Cav's Place

The protest report covering these days will obviously need to focus on Saturday’s march, but before I get there I should probably mention that, while I wouldn’t at this point consider it a cause that’s properly added to the ones this movement is fighting for, a few messages were posted about Friday’s protest against absorbing the Romanian Peasant Museum into the Village Museum. The matter has been mentioned a few times since the project became known and this protest was announced once by the movement’s “official” page and by a few activists, but I can’t say I saw anything about what actually happened. However, Monday the Prime Minister announced that the whole thing was largely another result of the conflict between him and the President which was blown out of proportion, so there are no actual plans to go through with such a project at the moment, though experience tells us this certainly doesn’t mean it won’t be attempted again in the future.

December 21: On this day, back in 1989, the Revolution spread, reaching Bucharest as well. As such, several events were announced, including some protests, the most notable of which asking people to gather at University Square from 5:30 PM. Though created by another group, this event was also promoted by the known activists, yet the movement’s “official” page created a separate one as well, announcing that the barricade erected that day will be symbolically recreated, starting at 6 PM. In addition, the, in my opinion, particularly poorly-timed opening of a Rosia Montana-themed painting exhibition was announced for 7 PM.
When I reached University Square, almost exactly on time, I saw a group of people at the fountain, another across the road, in front of the Theater, and yet another in between the two, gathered around the monument. The situation changed relatively quickly, however, people starting to cross the road and gather in the middle around 5:50 PM and actually spilling into the street some ten minutes later. Since the gendarmes didn’t interfere, admitting that it was a commemorative event which did not require any notification, and the police simply acted in order to safely redirect the traffic, this was done without any incidents, unless you count the fact that a politician spotted in the area was quickly pushed away.
Once in the street, some wanted to immediately start marching towards the Government while others, including the known activists and others who might have somehow been seen as organizers of this particular event, wanted everyone to remain where we were in order to mark the events that took place 24 years before. In addition, some chanted against the Government, the President and all parties while others focused solely on the current ruling coalition, a group protesting for the separation of Church and State found itself next to a religious group carrying a large banner with a list of demands that included banning abortion and not granting any rights to sexual minorities, while the fact that a number of football fans were also present became particularly noticeable once obscene chants and loud firecrackers could be heard. Under these circumstances, though those with differing views tended to separate and some of those who were particularly bothered by certain chants or banners even left, the fact that there were no significant incidents was a pleasant surprise.
Eventually, after managing to stop a couple of other attempts, the known activists had to give in to those who wanted to start marching, so we got moving around 6:50 PM, when our numbers had probably reached around 2000. After briefly stopping again, moments later, to observe a moment of silence as a “barricade” of candles was quickly placed on the road, we reached Romana Square, where another brief stop allowed the slower participants to catch up, around 7:25 PM and arrived at Victoriei Square around 7:50 PM, being met by a huge number of gendarmes in riot gear, many also carrying shields and a small group, spotted behind all the others, even wielding guns.
The peak, which I estimate at around 4000 people, other estimates generally ranging between 3000 and 5000, was almost certainly reached while we were at Victoriei and the most notable event that took place during the time we spent there was probably the reading of a proclamation, which included a list of ten demands. Otherwise, there were chants, but no attempts to break through and no incidents with the gendarmes. Vlad even offered them candy, showing his identity card to prove that December 21 actually is his birthday and asking other protesters to eat one as well, to prove there’s nothing wrong with them, whenever one was reluctant to take any. In addition, though I’m not sure whether this happened at Victoriei or earlier, another interesting interaction with the gendarmes took place when a group of protesters wearing white vests with the word “negotiator” written on them, similar to those worn by the Gendarmerie’s negotiators, approached a group of real negotiators and asked them to join our revolution. When told that we should start it first, the protesters asked the negotiators to step aside and allow us to occupy the Government, then recited the gendarmes’ standard warning, “your action is illegal; please leave the area”, back to them when they were told that can’t be done.
Since our numbers were dropping as people were already starting to leave, and probably also in order to avoid any potential incidents that certain more troublesome protesters were eventually likely to cause, the call to get moving again came around 8:25 PM and by 8:50 PM we were at Revolution Square, in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On top of the expected line of gendarmes, this time we also saw a water cannon waiting for us, one protester climbing on its front bumper and many others gathering around in support when the gendarmes tried to remove him, which eventually led to the water cannon being pulled out of the area. Unfortunately, this held the attention of most protesters for far too long, the known activists being largely unsuccessful in gathering them closer to the Ministry for quite some time. Worse, a rather sizable group started to haltingly walk away around 9:05 PM, while around the same time the monarchists started trying to gather people closer to them in order to read their own proclamation, obviously different from the one which had been read in front of the Government.
Eventually, after a few harsher speeches directed against the Gendarmerie, mainly concerning the abuses taking place at Pungesti, we all left the area around 9:30 PM, quickly returning to University Square, where another “barricade” of candles was placed on the road. After listening to a couple more speeches and discussions and taking the last few pictures, I personally walked away around 10:05 PM, but the reports I saw state that the few dozen protesters left around 10:15 PM, when the gendarmes asked them to leave the road, initially sat down and refused to do so. They eventually agreed and the area was completely clear around 10:30 PM, but it may be said that the day’s protest only truly ended around 4 AM, when a report states that another symbolic “barricade” was briefly placed on the road by a few protesters, before being kicked away by angry drivers moments later.
Before moving on to the conclusion, I want to mention one more thing, which is related to it: Though, infuriatingly, he’s usually the one telling people to act on their own, alone or in small groups, whenever they have an idea they think may help, without asking or even telling anyone else, the fact that we wasted the evening’s potential due to a lack of organization was, oddly enough, even pointed out by Alex in his last speech of the day, after we returned to University Square, while about a meter to his left a few other protesters were trying to persuade Vlad and Claudiu that this movement needs leaders to hold the rest together and focus their energy, and that they’re most probably best suited for that position. Unfortunately, Alex being Alex, his speech quickly turned into an argument with a couple of football fans which then ended up involving other protesters as well, while Vlad and Claudiu repeated that the movement does not and should not have leaders, Vlad also adding that, even if it will eventually end up having any, he’ll most definitely continue to refuse to be one of them.
And that’s one of our biggest problems, if not the biggest. The evening could have definitely turned out far worse, but at the same time it’s obvious that its real potential was unfortunately almost completely wasted because, once again, we weren’t organized and focused, and organizing a large mass of people in motion requires, among other things, some recognized organizers, or leaders if you will. We can only go so far without a few people, picked out of those who are known to nearly all protesters and who have repeatedly proven themselves, clearly being selected to coordinate all major events, settle differences and generally direct everyone’s energy towards the goals to be achieved, one by one. It’s true that things may occasionally work out even without such a structure, but all “Occupy” or related movements have taught us that generally, and in the long term, they won’t, so how about we learn from others’ mistakes instead of repeating them?

December 22: The day was dedicated to formal ceremonies commemorating those who died during the Revolution and, while a few monarchists and some of those who disagree with peaceful protests and want to see violent action being taken against the authorities did try to ask those who agree with their respective views to gather once again, the only credible call coming from a person who is clearly involved in this movement had to do with the fact that, though nobody seemed to have been aware of it the day before, a person started a hunger strike in front of the Theater Saturday evening, to protest against the abuses taking place at Pungesti. The fact that a few protesters arrived to show solidarity with him Sunday evening apparently attracted the attention of the crowd that usually showed up in that spot throughout 2012, protesting solely against the President and supporting the current ruling coalition, which in turn resulted in something of a battle of chants similar to those seen rather frequently last year, albeit with only a few protesters on each side this time around.
Also Sunday evening, five protesters tried to visit certain politicians in order to sing a creative new version of a popular Christmas carol, adapted to the current situation. However, they seemed to largely end up singing it to the gendarmes who blocked their way. They weren’t even allowed on the street where former president Ion Iliescu lives. In the end, after singing the carol to some other gendarmes who were guarding the Government building, they said they’ll probably take a break from protesting over the next two weeks, but the idea of visiting politicians at home these days to sing creative new versions of carols has been considered since late November, so others may try as well.