Cav's Place

Initially, this post was supposed to cover days 31 to 40, but there is no such thing anymore, the daily protests having stopped completely after the storm made it impossible, or at least terribly unwise, for anyone to show up last Monday and Tuesday. It was still raining Wednesday as well, but the weather started improving on Thursday and this week it was actually very pleasant, so something could have started again, but people decided to focus on the Sunday marches and on the necessary preparations, which include action group meetings on Thursday, talking to people and spreading fliers all over the city on Friday and localized events on Saturday, so the fountain area remained empty and the plans to organize protests in front of certain institutions during working hours, which had been mentioned the week before, appear to have been forgotten in the process.
What this means is that, until or unless the situation changes, there will be no point to continue having these posts follow a format that implies daily protests, so I’ll be focusing on the Sunday marches as well and only briefly mention any other related events or developments. This also implies that, instead of covering a period of five or ten days and including the march wherever it happens to fit within said period, the posts will now cover a week, starting with a short section describing what happened during the weekdays and ending with the march itself. In other words, I should have written this on Monday, but I guess it’s better late than never.

As I mentioned above, the weather stopped any further outdoor actions during the first half of the week, but a lot happened on-line, those who try to somewhat organize these protests and maintain some semblance of order deciding on Tuesday to suggest three possible, and completely different, routes for the march. People were given until Wednesday at 3 PM to vote for the one they preferred, and this was how the decision was made, one of the options winning by a significant margin. Then the fliers were printed accordingly and handed out to the members of the action groups when they met Thursday evening. The movement finally became visible outdoors once again on Friday, when activists returned to taking to people and handing out fliers in several parts of the city. Saturday, however, they focused solely on the area the march was going to start from, and also invited people to take a picture on Rosia Montana street. After all, that name was probably a large part of the reason why this route won the vote so clearly, though those who suggested it admitted that they hadn’t been aware that such a street existed in Bucharest, only accidentally spotting it on the map while searching for potential start locations in the areas the previous marches hadn’t covered.

Sixth Sunday march: The chosen gathering spot was particularly symbolic, namely the crossroads of Rosia Montana and Dezrobirii (Emancipation), and people were once again told to start arriving from 4 PM. However, the march was scheduled to start at 5 PM, so for the first time only one hour separated the two moments and that definitely reduced the number of people present when the signal was given to form the column on Dezrobirii. I’d hazard a guess that there were perhaps around 2000 there at that moment, but I unfortunately arrived late myself and at that time I was running around and trying to quickly take some pictures, so I may be well off and, either way, many others joined us very quickly.
When we arrived at University Square, the Gendarmerie, quoted by most mainstream media sources, was estimating around 6000 people, and sadly I don’t think they were far off. My initial estimate at the time, taking into account the people who were still in the Square after the entire column had walked in and the area was cordoned off, was 7000, and I saw other protesters saying similar numbers. However, many left either as soon as they reached the Square or even before that time, so that number doesn’t reflect the peak, which was either when we stopped in front of Cotroceni (Presidential) Palace or perhaps at some point on the way between Cotroceni and University Square, when some activists were estimating 15000 people and even the few mainstream media sources that attempted to make their own estimates admitted that we were over 10000. By Monday, that “over 10000” was what the vast majority seemed to have settled on, few still going as high as 15000 or attempting to be more specific, but I saw 12000 mentioned a few times and that may perhaps be closer to the truth, so I’ll go with it, seeing as I was in no state to make my own estimates on the way.
About three hours passed between the start and the end of the march, but that included perhaps around half an hour spent in front of the Presidential Palace, so about two and a half hours were actually spent marching, the pace once again being quite reasonable, which proved that the improvement noticed during the previous march wasn’t only due to people wanting to get out of the rain sooner. In addition, while I also noticed one person throwing some angry words our way, the support we received while marching through residential areas seemed greater than it had been the last couple of times, and that probably made most people feel even better about participating, though my state of mind prevented me from personally enjoying any of it.
It was just after 8 PM when we entered the Square, meeting the others who were already there at the time. Those included the small group of people protesting against the killing of stray dogs who hadn’t joined us for the march, but also those protesting against the Prime Minister removing a prosecutor working with high-profile corruption cases from office. As I stated above, people started clearing quickly and the gendarmes were able to slowly reopen the roads for traffic one by one, starting shortly after 9 PM, as the numbers were about to drop into the hundreds. Reports say around 100 people were still there at 10:15 PM and, while I’m not sure exactly when they left, I imagine the area was completely clear not long after that.
As far as organization goes, most problems were noticed as we were marching around Cotroceni Palace and, of course, when we stopped in front of it. While chants were obviously still getting mixed at other times as well, it was then that different groups actively tried to drown each other out, some directing some more vehement attacks solely at the President, others chanting against all the major parties and their leaders, and yet others meaning to keep everyone focused strictly on the Rosia Montana issue, or at most on Rosia Montana and fracking. Some didn’t even want to stop in front of the Palace, while others didn’t want to leave in order to continue the march when the signal was given to do so, but in the end those who keep struggling to keep things together managed to more or less sort everything out once again. The large number of gendarmes gathered in the area probably helped with that as well, even if indirectly, their very presence perhaps making some think twice before causing any real trouble.
The one notable incident took place in the Square, after I left, and involved the group protesting against the Prime Minister removing that prosecutor from office. It should be noted that said group initially attempted to persuade us to change the route for our march and add this cause alongside ours before deciding to hold a separate protest elsewhere at 5 PM and then gather from 6 PM in the Square when that attempt failed, while at the same time those prosecutors, and the justice system in general, is seen as being controlled by the President while this sixth Sunday march’s main event was the protest in front of the Presidential Palace, so a conflict between the two sides was to be expected. Still, most people simply wanted nothing to do with this other group and kept their distance, only a few challenging them and requiring the gendarmes to step in and separate the two sides. Some who were there said that the entire incident seemed staged, but all I know is what I saw on-line and that was that one of the known troublemakers was in the middle of it, so it’s possible that it wasn’t exactly staged, but simply another instance of people being stupid.
Overall, it could have gone a lot better, particularly in the Square, seeing as the decent weather coupled with the fact that the march ended so much earlier than the previous ones should have offered people the opportunity to stay and actively protest for several hours. At the same time, it could have also gone much worse, particularly considering the risk of conflicts, so I for one am definitely not unhappy with how it turned out. The simple fact that these protests exist, that thousands of people continue to attend, in Bucharest as well as in dozens of other places across the country and abroad, would have been completely unbelievable a mere month and a half ago, so demanding or expecting even more at this particular moment would probably be unreasonable.

What matters most is that, after the Government and the Parliament, the Presidential Palace was now added to the locations where we protested, which should have made at least some of those accusing us of taking sides think again. After all, it was normal to focus mainly on the Government and the Parliament, seeing as the President has significantly less power and influence now, but at the same time he has always been a very firm supporter of the Rosia Montana mining project and this definitely isn’t forgotten even if he now tries to capitalize on the current events and claim he opposes the law these protests started from and wishes to be a neutral mediator between the two sides. In fact, this statement was probably the main reason why the protests reached Cotroceni Palace on this sixth Sunday, because hearing him make such an offer was quite frankly insulting and not reacting to such an insult would have sent the wrong message.
Sending the right message, however, obviously caused his supporters, who had largely been trying to fly under our radar so far, looking for ways to take advantage of the situation, to start accusing us as well. Combine this with the fact that USL’s supporters continue to throw just as much filth our way and you end up with the interesting situation of having both sides actively struggle to undermine our credibility and create confusion. It’d be funny if it wouldn’t be sad, but seeing these warring factions join forces against us quite clearly proves that we’re doing something right!