Cav's Place

This should be a relatively short post, seeing as not many things happened here during this period. Also, since I didn’t attend any of the events that did take place, it will lack details. In some cases, I could find no real reports of what actually happened, leading me to assume that very few people tried to attend a particular scheduled event and they probably decided against actually doing anything as a result, while in other cases the few reports I did find weren’t exactly descriptive. Whether that was due to the fact that there wasn’t much to describe or merely because many of those who generally tend to post good reports were away, I don’t exactly know, but all I can do is post what I could learn.

The first listed event called people to gather in front of the Bucharest Courthouse at 8:30 AM on December 24, in support of Ion Ioan, who still had legal troubles after his attempt to set himself on fire on December 15. While a few known activists mentioned the event, I have only seen one short message about it after it should have taken place, so all I know is that the Court’s ruling was favorable, rejecting the appeal against the initial rejection of the preventive arrest warrant issued on his name and restoring his freedom of movement, which had been curtailed as part of the previous ruling.
As for December 25, I was saying in the previous protest report that I did expect further attempts to sing creative new versions of carols to politicians and, while a few known activists were at Pungesti, offering Christmas presents to the local children, a few others asked protesters to do precisely that, the most notable event listing the Prime Minister’s home address and calling people to gather there for this purpose. Home addresses were probably far from the best idea at a time when most would be away, however, and I haven’t seen any reports about any of these actions actually succeeding.

As of December 26, the few activists who had been asking people to show solidarity with Sandu, who’s the man who’s on a hunger strike in front of the Bucharest National Theater, protesting against the abuses taking place at Pungesti, attempted to get somewhat more organized, so an event was created and people were asked to work out a schedule so at least one person will be with him at all times, especially at night, those who wanted to go being warned that they should be ready to react immediately if he is threatened or seems to require medical attention. While he was obviously also growing increasingly weaker due to the lack of food, this call mainly came because the small group of people who only protest against the President and support the current ruling coalition were becoming increasingly aggressive every evening, covering him in their signs and telling him to go away while the gendarmes refused to do anything to help. In addition, some of those “protesters” were also obviously drunk and therefore potentially even more dangerous, while at the same time suspicious individuals were noticed in the area at night, causing him to no longer feel safe while attempting to sleep without anyone keeping watch.
Based on the reports I read, the tensions peaked on December 28, so a call was made and a few more people arrived to help keep the others in check. In addition, a message posted that same day asked lawyers and legal experts to come up with a model that may be used to file charges against the authorities for refusing to even meet with the people who are on hunger strike, be it in Bucharest, in Pungesti or anywhere else, seeing as the reason why these people have resorted to such an extreme protest is that they are denied the rights guaranteed by our Constitution and by various international treaties that Romania signed.

December 29 started with a particularly decentralized protest that, while not directly endorsed by this movement and in fact clearly opposed by a fair number of religious protesters, was promoted by some known activists, the event itself being created by the Romanian Secular-Humanist Association as both something of a celebration marking 150 years since Alexandru Ioan Cuza secularized monastic estates and a reaction to the fact that, during the month of December, the Government granted the Romanian Orthodox Church 30 million RON (about $9.2 million or €6.7 million at today’s exchange rate), as well as a hotel complex and 2.3 hectares of land. What people were asked to do was simple: Make a sign with a message supporting the separation of Church and State and take a picture of themselves holding it in front of a State institution, though other suggestions were to place it in a visible spot on their car if they plan to drive that day or simply display it on the door of the building they live in. I noticed that a fair number chose to take pictures of themselves holding the signs in front of churches or cathedrals, however.
But to return to the events that actually were part of this movement, I have to say that Saturday’s tensions probably persuaded more to attend the “tea party” scheduled for Sunday evening. Since the call simply asked people to gather in front of the Theater from 5 PM to “have a tea with Sandu”, and especially considering the fact that the other group was certain to be there as well and most tend to want nothing to do with them and simply stay away from the area when they show up, I didn’t expect more than 30 or so to attend, but there seem to have been at least twice as many, and possibly even more than that. Thankfully, this meant that the other group realized they were vastly outnumbered and won’t be able to intimidate anyone that evening, so they didn’t cause any more trouble. The tensions reappeared the next day, however, when only a few people gathered once again around Sandu.

While many known activists and regular protesters spent New Year’s in Rosia Montana and some others simply took a break to spend some more time with their family, yet others called people to gather in front of the Theater once again by midnight on December 31, to enter the new year together and alongside Sandu, the event having the end time listed as 2 AM and messages being posted to warn everyone against doing anything that may exhaust him even more, one guy who insisted on bringing firecrackers being repeatedly told to set them off somewhere else and come back after doing so if he absolutely must use them that night. According to what pictures and reports I saw, about 100 people, possibly slightly more, answered that call and once again there were no incidents.