Cav's Place

After the “Black Tuesday”, it became increasingly difficult to keep track of the protests and related events and determine which ones are actually connected to this movement and which aren’t. On top of foreign officials reacting and demanding explanations, the opposition and even some unions staged protests and tried to take over those organized by this movement, steering them solely against the current ruling coalition and portraying the President as the only hope at the moment, while some known activists and regular protesters tried to return the favor and make our demands and complaints against both sides known during their events as well. For this reason, I won’t mention the protests organized by political parties and, while I will make a note of the fact that a few known activists joined a few others coming from other cities in an attempt to stage something at Victoriei Square Saturday afternoon, immediately after a political protest, I can’t say I heard much about the actual results of the attempt.

The first day that needs to be specifically mentioned during this period is Thursday, December 12, which featured a press conference that started at 2 PM and dealt with three topics, namely the proposed changes to the Mining Law, shale gas and the current situation from Pungesti, and a small but efficient action called “this is not a protest” that took place during the evening. This latter event had been somewhat announced through a few pictures and comments posted earlier during the week, but with the exception of the few who actually took part and perhaps a couple more who helped make the banners, the rest of us learned the details only after seeing the pictures showing a few protesters carrying the four banners as they walked between cars waiting at a red light or as they quickly made their way from one spot to another on the sidewalk. What I also gathered from the images is that they stopped to display the banners in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as well, but only long enough to take some pictures. Whether they did the same in front of other institutions or not, I personally don’t know. (Much later, I learned that another similar “not a protest” took place the next evening as well.)
The day’s most notable event, however, wasn’t a protest and didn’t actually happen as a result of one either, but marks the fulfillment of one of the original demands. I’m referring to the fact that Daniel Barbu resigned from the position of Minister of Culture as a result of certain statements made three days before. As I already said, this has nothing to do with the protests or with this movement, the statements in question being that he was shocked by the fact that the budget for the national program to prevent and treat HIV infections is equal to half the total budget the Ministry of Culture has available for all of its programs and that he shuddered when he realized how many cultural festivals could be organized if that program wouldn’t exist anymore, but a demand being met is a demand being met and, either way, these statements only served to once again prove the kind of man he is.

The second day that needs to be mentioned is Saturday, December 14, which featured a debate starting at 11:30 AM, the topic being whether citizens should be able to initiate the procedures to dismiss their elected representatives in the Parliament, and a banner workshop that was announced as starting at 2 PM. Seeing as Sunday’s protest was meant to be the most notable reaction to the laws that were either approved or merely delayed on Tuesday, the messages displayed on the banners created on this occasion were very different from those generally seen up to that point.
A more notable development, however, once again came from outside the protest movement, the Ombudsman’s office announcing launching an investigation regarding the events that took place at Pungesti. While this investigation was not launched as a result of a specific request, Tuesday’s “occupation” most probably had a significant influence on the decision, so a few activists wanted to ensure that we will maintain the pressure and quickly launched a call for individual petitions requesting details about the status of the investigation to be submitted, even daily if possible, starting Monday. Unfortunately, though hardly unexpectedly, the matter became complicated on December 19, when the Ombudsman suddenly resigned, the fact that no plausible explanation for the gesture was offered, only “personal reasons” being invoked, leading nearly everyone to believe that this investigation was quickly becoming too much of a threat for certain interest groups to be allowed to continue.

Sixteenth Sunday, twelfth Sunday march (here’s a longer video as well, filmed from the thick of it most of the time and including some moments not seen in the other one): While the plan was to start gathering at the fountain at 4 PM, the day’s events actually started at 3 PM, when Ion Ioan, a union leader and activist, set himself on fire in front of the Government building to protest against the abuses committed by gendarmes at Pungesti after not being allowed to stage the protest he had already notified the authorities of. The gendarmes reacted immediately, but instead of calling an ambulance they held him down, beat him, then arrested him as well as another activist, Gabriel Tora, who tried to save him. Gabriel Tora was eventually released around 10:30 PM, but Ion Ioan remained in custody until Monday, when the vice-president of the Green Party, lawyer Tonel Pop, managed to persuade the court to reject the 29-day preventive arrest warrant that was initially issued.
Moving on to the main protest, once again only a small number of people arrived on time, but the new banners certainly made us much more visible once they started being displayed. A few activists from Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria and I believe also Greece were present as well, displaying more solidarity with us than we displayed with each other at times, the regular protesters and the supporters of the President and the opposition obviously having differing views on whether the protest should continue to be against both sides or focus solely on the current ruling coalition. Thankfully, these arguments didn’t lead to any significant incidents, but they were clearly noticeable and hampered the propagation of chants at least during the first part of the protest, until enough people gathered to more or less overwhelm the opposition’s supporters.
Eventually, after an unpleasant moment when Willy Schuster suddenly rushed into the empty area in front of the cameras leading chants against the press and asking for help to block their view, supposedly in order to force them to film all of the roughly 1000 people who had gathered by then instead of only that small area, several minutes passing before a few other activists who didn’t quite agree with this stance managed to calm him down somewhat, we tried to start marching towards the Government, on the sidewalk. Many were saying even since we started gathering that we’ll “go for a walk” if we’ll reach 1000 and I heard regular protesters and some known activists start mentioning this more seriously around 5:30 PM, but it was 5:50 PM when we actually got moving.
Of course, the gendarmes had already surrounded us with thick cordons by then and they weren’t going to allow us to go anywhere, so people started trying to look for other ways out after a few relatively weak attempts to break through failed. This also resulted in the protesters separating, so for a while I couldn’t follow, not to mention take pictures of, everything that was happening, though nearly all of us seemed to end up either on Victoriei Way after using the streets behind the fountain to get there or blocked again by gendarmes at the intersection between Elisabeta Boulevard and Victoriei Way.
At that point there were at least three groups, not counting a few protesters who tried to look for other ways on their own, and this obviously caused confusion, some immediately turning right to head towards the Government, others stopping at the intersection and others, after breaking through the cordon, blocking Elisabeta Boulevard as they started walking back towards University Square. The group that made this latter choice seemed to be by far the largest, but they were blocked by another cordon at 6:10 PM, just before reaching the square once again, and eventually turned back. Those who weren’t quick enough, as well as those who insisted on not using the sidewalk, however, found themselves blocked once again when they returned to the intersection with Victoriei, yet some slipped through and were quickly able to catch up to those who had turned right immediately, who hadn’t gone that much farther before being blocked as well by another line of gendarmes.
A few minutes later, those who had been blocked at the intersection with Elisabeta arrived as well, which meant that, with the exception of a few who had left to try to find other ways around the cordon, we were once again united in a single group. Then, as tensions escalated, a cordon seemed to be forming behind us as well and protesters kept looking for ways to break through and continue the march, an ambulance appeared in the distance, there were a few shouts to let it through and the gendarmes from the part of the cordon that was right in its path seemed to waver for a moment, which was all it took. It was 6:40 PM and suddenly we were through, protesters flooding forward as shoving was at times turning into punching or even trampling, some gendarmes trying to re-form a part of the cordon and therefore actively blocking the ambulance even as most protesters were sticking to the other side of the road and shouting at everyone else to let it through.
Walking the rest of the way to Victoriei Square, where the Government building is, was interesting because, for the first time, traffic was not stopped and most protesters simply walked on the street, in between cars waiting for them to pass. A few drivers honked their horns impatiently, a few even tried to keep driving, earning themselves various angry shouts, but many seemed to be waiting patiently and a fair number even cheered, shouted that they support us or honked their horns in what became known as the “rhythm of the Square”. As a result, not only that the presence of traffic didn’t cause any real incidents, but it actually prevented further clashes against the gendarmes, who didn’t follow the protesters on the road and, after blocking the sidewalk once or twice, seemed to give up completely.
Around 7:05 PM, our numbers having grown to around 2000, we reached Victoriei Square, finding a line of gendarmes partially surrounding the empty area in the middle as others were only then rushing into position on the sidewalk immediately in front of the Government building. Some activists were asking protesters to spread around, block the entire square and avoid being completely surrounded by gendarmes, but others were calling everyone forward, as close as the gendarmes allowed us to get to the Government building, and there are reports of a slight conflict between the two sides. In the end, however, most people did gather in front of the line of gendarmes, though a small number also settled in another part of the square, staying there even after a weak attempt to block the road failed.
In the larger group, the chants were becoming angrier and the gendarmes were being asked to join us or at least stand aside. When they reacted in the expected manner, doubling or even tripling the cordon, a few protesters tried to break through even as others urged restraint. As a result, a small amount of tear gas was used and the situation became even more tense, the fact that some people who seemed to be football fans made an appearance and started pushing the others forward definitely not helping matters. Later, there were reports identifying some of those who were part of this group, though perhaps not necessarily the first ones who appeared, as provocateurs who even followed protesters after they left Victoriei Square and tried to gather more information.
After a small amount of tear gas was used for the second time, the football fans lit a torch and threw it at the gendarmes. Then, among repeated calls for restraint from other protesters, somebody from behind the group threw what appeared to be a rock, which struck a gendarme’s helmet. As such, it was becoming obvious that the situation was getting out of hand and I pulled myself some distance away, being far from the only one to do so. In fact, some protesters were already leaving and eventually, as I noticed that the gendarmes were surrounding us completely, I joined such a group and made my way out at possibly the last moment, at 8:25 PM.
According to the reports I read, my assessment was correct, those who were left inside the area surrounded by gendarmes being held back for several minutes, some of them possibly even fined, before they were urged and also allowed to leave, the area clearing almost completely around 8:45 PM. Also according to some reports, a small number of protesters walked back to the fountain, where they arrived perhaps around 9:20 PM and chanted for a few more minutes before scattering. It would appear that at least some of the provocateurs followed them and tried to obtain more information from some.
The evening ended with a few activists gathering first in front of the police precinct where the four who were taken away were held and then in front of the hospital where Willy was being treated for the injuries sustained while being beaten by at least ten gendarmes after he walked through the cordon when, according to his statement, a negotiator walked away and happened to create an opening as he was asking him to join us. I’m not entirely sure I know precisely when this happened, which is why I set the moment aside and am only mentioning it now, but on top of needing stitches for the head injury clearly visible in the photo I linked to, he also ended up with a few broken fingers. Erwin Albu was also beaten yet again, though he thankfully seems to have walked away with no more than a few bruises. In addition, even a few reporters seemed to have been somewhat roughed up, one from Realitatea in front of the hospital and those from B1 at Victoriei Square.

Since covering the events that took place between December 16 and December 19 will not take long, before moving on to the conclusion and ending this post I want to do that as well, starting with the two debates took place on December 16, the first one starting at 6 PM and dealing with the dynamics of the recent protests seen in Canada, Romania, the United States and Ukraine, while the topic of the second, which started at 7:30 PM, was the Romanian Revolution, which actually began on December 16, 24 years before. In addition, there was a call to start sending greeting cards to the members of the Parliament, wishing them a happy resignation.
As for December 19, on top of the resignation I already mentioned above, I just found out that another “not a protest” apparently took place during the evening, adding a banner “not” asking people to come to Saturday’s protest, as well as one saying television stations “don’t” manipulate, to the ones also displayed the first time, a week before. Otherwise, I can’t tell you anything more about it because all I know is what you can see for yourselves in the pictures I linked to, the only way I found out that it took place at all being that a known activist shared that album.

To conclude, the ruling coalition seems increasingly desperate to push all the filth through at once, hoping that at least some of it will somehow slip past without too much of a backlash before next year’s elections will loom too close for them to dare risk such measures anymore, while the weak opposition is increasingly desperate to improve their image before those same elections by taking advantage of this and leeching on any protests they can find. As such, we must remain vigilant, maintain the pressure on both sides, prevent any other interest groups from taking over this movement, seek out and work with potential allies, no matter where they may be found, yet somehow also conserve our energy for the long battle ahead.
At the same time, considering what’s going on during the actual protests and the utter insanity found on event pages, we must also remain determined, focus on what brings us together far more than on what sets us apart, defend the movement and each other against those seeking to harm or discredit it or any one of us, get properly organized and, of course, distance ourselves from those whose actions will bring harm to our cause or to other fellow protesters. It is particularly unfortunate that this latter category also includes some who are genuinely interested in supporting a movement aiming to change this country, and perhaps even the world, for the better, but if they don’t understand the need to change their behavior, we will need to push them aside. Failure to do so will mean that the worst threat will continue to come from within.