Cav's Place

Eighth Sunday march: Only around 100 people were around the fountain at 4 PM, which was the only time given on the event page, so it was clear we’ll need to wait for quite a while before we’ll be able to start the march. Thankfully, the numbers did grow steadily and the surprisingly well-organized percussion group also helped make the time pass more quickly, until the announcement was made that the gendarmes had advised us to march on the sidewalk and stated that they will not be joining us during the march, so if we choose to block traffic we take full responsibility for the outcome. As a result, at 5:35 PM, the known activists suggested that we try following that advice by using the underground passage as we move over to the statues, to have more space and be able to continue waiting for others, including those who had been marching for unification with Moldova earlier that day, to join. However, the fact that the fountain area was filled with people meant that we were around 4000 at the time and only a few hundred of us did use the passage, the rest simply crossing the road, which was taken as proof that the march needs to be on the street and the matter was settled without further discussions.
Once everybody had settled in the area with the statues, the Proclamations made the previous day at Campeni and Pungesti were read, which obviously took longer than some were willing to wait. In fact, it was announced that, according to tradition, they will be read three times over the course of the day, but that idea was dropped when, shortly before 6 PM, without even waiting for the Proclamation from Pungesti to be completely read even the first time, some people went back into the street and simply started marching, leaving the known activists no option other than to give the signal to get going as soon as that first reading was completed. We were around 5000 at the time.
With no gendarmes with us except those with cameras, obviously sent to “hunt” for any incidents that may be used to justify further actions against the protesters, we were pretty much on our own. Police sometimes stopped traffic until we passed, but at other times we simply trusted drivers to stop on their own and it simply worked out even though we truly made use of the freedom we had by adapting the route to the wishes of most participants. The first moment when this happened was after we reached Constitution Square, where the initial plan had us turn right, to go almost completely around the Parliament and eventually stop in front of the Senate entrance, where the march was supposed to end. However, since many people turned left instead, we simply turned left and went around the Parliament that way, the first brief stop being at 6:45 PM, in front of the Romanian Academy, the chants first thanking them for their support before we turned roughly towards the Senate entrance and got back to the usual chants as we got moving again, at 6:55 PM.
At 7:25 PM, we were on the other side of the Parliament, in front of the Chamber of Deputies entrance, where we stopped and chanted for five minutes before continuing on our way and reaching the intersection between United Nations Boulevard and Liberty Boulevard, where the known activists managed to persuade the participants to turn right in order to return to Constitution Square despite the fact that a fair number of people meant to keep going straight ahead, possibly in order to take a somewhat shorter route back towards University Square. As such, at 7:40 PM we were once again at Constitution Square, where it was initially said that the march will end. However, within no more than a few minutes, it became clear that many people wanted to keep going and return to University Square, so after a brief rest we got moving again at 7:55 PM.
Since some people peeled off after that point and it’s possible that others did keep going straight ahead at that intersection as well, the peak was most probably reached while we were going around the Parliament, at which time many protesters were estimating we were around 10000 while the mainstream media gave numbers ranging from a laughable 1000 to 5000, one source going as high as “5000 to 7000”. My own estimate at the time, made as I went around to take plenty of pictures despite having nothing but several sets of nearly empty batteries with me, was that we were at least 8000, possibly somewhat more, but likely not quite 10000. However, by Monday some of the mainstream media sources that had initially made lower estimates had updated their numbers to 5000 and the “official” page of the protests was listing 7000, so I guess I could go with 7000 as well, though I still think we probably were somewhat more than that at least at some point.
Returning to the march, probably some 4000 of us were back at University Square at 8:35 PM, where we were met and surrounded by gendarmes, who asked us to clear the road. Two of their vans also approached threateningly, but eventually they drove away. That didn’t mean that they were going to let us sit there, however, and at 9:10 PM, when those who could be intimidated by such tactics had already left and our numbers had probably dropped close to 1000, their negotiators said the orders are clear, there’s nothing to discuss, and the formal announcement that we need to leave the road was made. After that, as they realized that the people who continued to try to talk to them directly and the rest of us who were sitting on the road in front of the cordon weren’t going anywhere, and seeing as Vlad kept trying to make sure that we all knew our rights and the methods of peaceful resistance we had available, some of them walked in, left us where we were and formed another cordon behind us instead, advancing on those who were standing further back, correctly determining that those could still be intimidated.
Seeing as the group had been split and we had already successfully proven that things only get tense after the gendarmes try to step in, the protesters having caused no incidents during the entire march without any of them around, the known activists eventually made the call to leave the road and everyone was back on the sidewalk by 9:45 PM, though a few definitely weren’t happy with this decision and were making their opinion known. That also resulted in a brief but heated argument between a few more violent guys and Alex around 10 PM, after he had finished the speech he made in front of those of us who gathered at the fountain, and unfortunately at least three television crews focused on those guys, giving them a chance to present themselves as representatives of the protesters. The image problem generated by this was what the few dozen people left in front of the fountain were talking about when I left, at 10:10 PM. Perhaps some 200 were still in the area at the time, but the rest were scattered in small groups and getting ready to leave as well.
The reason I specified above that the protesters caused no incidents during the march instead of saying that there were no incidents at all was that, though I’m somewhat uncertain about the exact details, it’s clear that, at some point, a few apparently drunk people walked right to the small group of what I understand to be anarchists and, after self-identifying as fascists, one of them punched one of the anarchists, who was holding a banner against capitalism, in the face. According to some reports, the anarchists asked some of the known activists for help at that point, but they weren’t exactly helped, which actually makes quite a lot of sense if you think of the doctrine they advocate, not to mention the fact that the rest of us aren’t particularly happy to see them there either. Of course, fascists would be worse, but I believe those weren’t taking part in the march, claiming to have come from the one for unification with Moldova, though those who took part in both denied knowing or having seen them.
As a conclusion after all of this, I’ll say that the risks were significant once the gendarmes simply stepped away at the start of the march, many believing that incidents will be staged just to give them an excuse to portray us as the violent extremists certain politicians keep saying we are lately, yet everything worked out extremely well and we proved that several thousand “violent extremists” can march around the city for hours without anything happening as a result. Even at the end, though it would have definitely been better if the gendarmes wouldn’t have acted the way they did, I’ll say that the activists who eventually asked the other protesters to clear the road made the right decision, once again proving that we did not and will not cause problems if violence isn’t used against us first. However, what will happen next is anyone’s guess and we may need to rethink our course of action once force will be used.

Monday, while I did notice a small number of people apparently gathered around the fountain when I checked the webcam, there was no indication that they were protesting. As such, I’ll quickly move on to the statements made by the Prime Minister who, while on an official visit in the United States, said that he still favors shale gas, Chevron isn’t going anywhere and he’s certain that the arguments the authorities and the companies involved will bring forward will eventually persuade most current protesters to stop opposing the projects, while the “radical minority” that won’t listen can’t be allowed to impose its will.
However, while such statements make it clear that our voice is being ignored, that’s no surprise and what’s perhaps more worrying as far as the protests themselves are concerned is the fact that the very man who announced last month that a political decision was made to allow us to continue blocking roads as long as we’ll remain completely peaceful, namely the Minister of Internal Affairs, continues to make it increasingly obvious that he either changed his mind or has been forced to. In this latest statement, he said that the autorities will try to have talks with the “organizers” of the protests in order to ensure that the proper authorizations will be obtained and the protocols respected, otherwise the gendarmes will first fine those who still take to the street and then use force if needed, because the situation can’t continue and “willingly or, if necessary, by force” people must once again obey the law.

As for Tuesday, while looking at the webcam I do believe I saw a banner in the corner of the image, where a few people were once again gathered, but that’s all I know about what happened in the fountain area. Elsewhere, people discussed what to do next and an event for the ninth Sunday was created, but no options for people to vote on were listed that day, those who try to keep things together merely stating that they agree some things need to change.
As for the political scene, while talking about the many matters discussed during his meeting with Joe Biden, the Prime Minister more or less repeated the previous day’s statements and largely dismissed the protest that took place in front of the White House during said meeting by saying that he just saw three women there. In addition, the President of the Senate, his main coalition partner, also spoke at length during a television show that evening and, as far as the matters that these protests focus on are concerned, basically tried to fool those who may still be fooled, stating that he opposes these projects in their current form but citing certain details, poor communication on the part of the authorities and a justified lack of confidence on the part of the people as reasons, essentially stating that he would, in fact, be in favor if only people wouldn’t be protesting so much. Which is, once again, absolutely no surprise, seeing as he has supported these things all along and has even openly stated that he’s “too old to be an environmentalist” at some point.