Cav's Place

Meant to get up to date, writing a post for days six to 12, but there’s no way I can manage that over two days when I can’t seem to figure out how to squeeze anything in anymore, so here is one for days six to ten and I’ll see about the rest of it later. Maybe I’ll manage to at least cover days 11 and 12 over the weekend, even if Sunday I’ll quite clearly be out pretty much all day and Saturday currently sounds like it’ll be quite weird, and then see about days 13 to 15 on Monday, to at least catch up by then. Don’t hold your breath, though.

Day six: The day started early, with a small group of activists protesting briefly in front of the Parliament building, before being quickly and roughly removed. In addition, seeing as our national team played Hungary that day, the group of supporters that gathered and marched to the stadium also chanted some of our slogans, not to mention that a few chants about Rosia Montana could be heard during the match as well, and at least three large banners were displayed, the most basic of them even being shown on camera as it panned through the crowd. It would have been nice if the Hungarian fans would have joined ours in the effort, seeing as Hungary is also very much against the project, knowing they’ll be affected in case of any accidents, but that didn’t seem to happen.
As expected, the turnout in University Square was initially very low, barely 100 people having gathered at the fountain by 9 PM, when the match started, though hundreds of others quickly showed up shortly after it ended, at which point the gendarmes not only didn’t resist but basically invited people into the street, on Elisabeta boulevard, only recommending that they leave after the football fans will arrive from the stadium, to reduce the risks. That didn’t prove necessary, however, as there was only one real attempt to break through, about 30 minutes after the fans joined the protesters. The gendarmes put on their helmets and appeared prepared for a long night, surrounding the protesters with double lines, but there were no significant incidents past that point, nearly all protesters eventually clearing out by 2 AM, only a small group of mostly football fans being left.

Day seven: The day started at 4 PM, when one group organized what I saw as a particularly wasteful protest, throwing tomatoes in front of the Government building, while around the same time a few hundred cyclists started marching through the city, at one point separating in two groups that went in different directions. It should also be noted that a protest against killing stray dogs took place, from 6 PM, next to the square in front of the Bucharest National Theater, which is across the road from the fountain, which is why you see a few images from it in the video, taken when the cyclists passed by that area on their way back.
Moving on to the day’s main protest, it started at 5 PM, but few people arrived on time and hardly anything happened until a group of around 100 protesters from Barlad, whose main issue is fracking, arrived to join us. Unfortunately, while that did mark the start of the actual protest, this new group settled on one side of the area while those who were already there, as well as those who arrived later, moved on to the other and often seemed unwilling to join in the chanting and shouting, though this may have been in part caused by the fact that each group had their own chants, some not known by the other and some similar but not identical. This latter case obviously caused a fair amount of confusion when everyone would start by saying the same thing but end in two or, in case of the chants that were not grammatically correct and which some from the other group tried to pick up and fix on the spot, three different ways.
Everything finally clicked into place when the cyclists, after another change in the planned route, looped back and found the rest of us at University Square, at which point, despite a weak and uncertain attempt made by the gendarmes to hold us back, we joined them and kept on marching. For quite some time, it seemed that nobody had much of an idea where we were going, the gendarmes steering us away from turning in certain directions a couple of times but otherwise appearing content to keep us together and follow those who happened to take the lead along with the rest of us, but eventually, after a brief stop in front of the Turkish embassy to show solidarity with the protesters from there, we ended up stopping on Calea Dorobantilor, in front of TVR, which is the state-owned television station, and sat down there.
At the time we occupied the road, there were around 2000 people, but only 500 or so were left by midnight, when it was said that they’ll head back to University Square, where another small group made up of those who had arrived after we started marching was waiting. The road had cleared by 1 AM, even by 12:30 AM according to some reports, but I haven’t heard anything about anyone actually reaching University Square again, so they probably scattered along the way, thinking of the very long day that followed.

Day eight (another video, showing some of the support we received and containing interviews after the two minute mark, with English subtitles available for them): The day of the big march, starting with six smaller marches, from meeting places in each of Bucharest’s sectors and meeting in University Square. Unfortunately, these smaller marches were poorly promoted and even some of those who wanted to take part in them decided against doing so after noticing that the vast majority meant to go to the Square on their own, so for example in my sector we were about 35, despite only leaving at 4:10 PM, even though the scheduled time was 3:45 PM. Those who arrived even later seemed to have had better luck, however, as I noticed at least two groups that seemed to number around 100, if not more, and even stopped to stage some brief protests on the way.
This was followed by some two hours of protesting in the fountain area, during which people kept gathering, before moving into the street to start the march at 7 PM. By then, the entire area was packed and spilling over, meaning that there were at least 4000 people present, and our numbers continued to grow on the way, final estimates initially ranging between 8000, according to the television stations with ties to the current ruling coalition, and 20000, according to the organizers and a minor television station, before settling to around 15000 by Monday.
The march itself was long and certainly should have been exhausting, lasting three and a half hours, but the energy emanated by the crowd and the amazing support we received from so many others who honked their car horns in what’s now known as the “rhythm of the Square”, cheered us on from their apartments, displayed signs or banners in their balconies or placed them on tram or bus windows, or even rushed outside to applaud us as we walked past, made us not even feel it. Many people, myself included, were simply high on it that night, some staying that way even the next day and saying that they feel like they just got younger.
Since we arrived back at University Square at 10:30 PM, a fair number of people, myself included, peeled off right away to catch the metro, but well over 10000 people were still in the Square after midnight, though this included at least 2000 who had been waiting for us there and perhaps also some who arrived even later. The gendarmes attempted to steer everyone once again to Elisabeta boulevard, but that didn’t work and the entire intersection was blocked instead. For a while, I hear many wanted to start marching again and spend the night in front of the Government building, where some, including some of the leaders, wanted to stop even during the march, but that would have clearly served no purpose during the night, so it didn’t happen and people soon started leaving in large numbers, the area clearing by 1:30 AM, though a small number of protesters remained nearby for a while longer.
Back to the march, the organization was poor, with those who may be seen as leaders running up and down the column and still failing to get everyone to chant the same thing or even stay together, but at that point it didn’t matter much. There were various groups there, each perhaps with a different overall agenda but united at that point in time for a single goal, so other than the fact that towards the end those who held the large banners were walking too slowly and some 2000 people were constantly ahead of them and had to stop with increasing frequency to allow the rest to catch up, it simply worked out, somehow. As Liviu Mihaiu put it in an article he wrote, we were people with excellent field orientation despite being very poorly organized.
As far as incidents go, it must be said that the gendarmes and police worked almost perfectly with us and there were even several widely reported instances, one of which I witnessed personally, when some of them showed their personal support in ways that stretch the limits of what regulations would allow them to say or do. However, there was one driver who tried to make his way through the crowd before being stopped by the gendarmes and another that actually hit two people, while the one notable stain among the protesters had to do with a guy with balls of steel who marched wrapped in the flag of Israel despite the fact that some right-wing extremists were bound to be there and we’ve been struggling all along to distance ourselves from a small but vocal crowd that appears more bothered by the fact that the company behind this mining project has Jewish people among its major shareholders than by the disaster it will cause. Unfortunately, though I didn’t see it myself, it appears that he did run into those extremists at some point along the way and was beaten up by four of them without anyone daring to step in.
Still, with these few exceptions, this march truly marked a reawakening of Romanians. At the start of last year, when those protests started out of nowhere, being as much of a shock for us as for the international media, there were barely 2000 people on the streets in Bucharest and Cluj before the current ruling coalition brought people by buses or even paid them directly to make it appear that most protesters support them even if the original ones were quite clearly against both sides. Now, however, out of nowhere, we had 15000 people marching through Bucharest, up to 10000 through Cluj, a few thousand through a few other major cities, and smaller protests in dozens of other places, both around the country and abroad. This was probably the biggest protest Romania has seen since things started settling down after the Revolution, and it was done without buses, without payments, without staging concerts or offering people free food or drinks, and definitely without the support of the current political parties, as we’re clearly against all of them.

Day nine: The protests entered a new stage, the media presence was much more significant, a microphone and speakers were brought and used during the first part of the day, when we had plenty of speeches instead of just shouts and chants, and the message against fracking was much more visible, both on banners and in the speeches and chants. At the same time, people gathered slowly and there were only around 1000 at the peak, while certain disturbing elements like drunk people, agitators or those who simply wanted to be on TV were much more noticeable, requiring those who are more or less seen as leaders to step in several times.
On top of attracting those undesired elements, the increased media presence also caused all attempts to make people gather closer to fail, probably in large part due to the blinding lights placed on the cameras. As a result, Vlad, who was leading the chants at the time, moved from the clock to the fountain around 10 PM, asking everyone to gather around him there instead and turn their backs on the press, specifying that we should not refuse interviews, but otherwise just ignore the cameras and not put up a show for them.
Shortly before 11 PM, the protest was once again moved to the usual night location on Elisabeta boulevard, and it ended around 12:45 AM, people quickly scattering after a light rain started. That didn’t affect the notable moment of the night, however, which took place when a violin quartet played a few songs in the middle of the protesters, who sat down and either listened in silence or, at times, sang along. When asked, they presented themselves using the name of the campaign, stating that they have been together for some time, obviously under another name, but they don’t wish to say what it is and are honored to have been offered the chance to do their part to save Rosia Montana.

Day ten: Romania played Turkey that day, also at home and also from 9 PM, so things were expected to more or less follow the scenario noticed on Friday, the number of people around the fountain at the time once again being only around 100. However, since the match went badly, the numbers started growing earlier, at least 1000 being there by the final whistle and the gendarmes basically inviting them over to Elisabeta boulevard, where another concert of that violin quartet took place.
However, things became strange after that point, with the gendarmes also allowing trolleybuses through after the road was blocked by protesters, leading to a near miss when a driver rather charged in, which resulted in a car belonging to the gendarmes leading each trolleybus through to avoid further incidents. Two quick response squads of the gendarmerie, numbering in the hundreds, were also mobilized after a certain hour and they kept closing ranks, occasionally warning the protesters that what they’re doing is illegal and pressuring them to leave the road by taking a few more steps forward every few minutes, not being content when one side was eventually freed. In addition, several people who managed to talk with the gendarmes were told that the orders had changed and they’ll stop being so lenient over the coming days. The last 100 or so people left the road around 1:45 AM and, after some 15 more minutes on the sidewalk, went home.