Cav's Place

What was announced as the first major street protest of 2014, having the same list of demands as those included in the proclamation read in front of the Government on December 21, took place on February 8, when people were asked to gather in front of the Bucharest National Theater from 4 PM. Of course, being a rather “artificial” protest, announced by activists not because the authorities had given us something else to react to but largely because the lull was making some people restless and there was a risk of them taking matters into their own hands in ways which would have harmed the movement as a whole, expectations shouldn’t have been high, yet many people seemed terribly disappointed by the turnout and the way the evening played out. As far as I’m concerned, that’s their problem, of course.
I saw activists estimating that 300 people attended, but that may be the total number, including those who left too early or arrived too late to be there at the same time, because I’ll say we were only around 200 at the peak. Admittedly, we separated when we started marching and found a fair number waiting for us when we returned, which makes a total of 300 somewhat more plausible, but plenty had already left by then as well, so I’m sure we never even got close to that number in any one place. As a result, we weren’t able to do much, but I’ll say that, if the purpose was largely to remind people, and perhaps also to remind ourselves, that we still exist, that we still have these grievances, it still worked out well enough.
If we’d have stayed in one place, or if we’d have continued waiting for our numbers to increase further, as some were suggesting despite the fact that people were already leaving by then, the evening would have died out quite disappointingly even for me, but thankfully at 6:25 PM we started marching, the stated destination being the Government. A small group had already left at 6 PM, possibly with the intent of staging a small protest elsewhere, but I heard nothing else about them, so I’m going to assume that our march and what a small number of us did later were the evening’s main events, despite the fact that we never did reach the Government or any other institution. After all, probably around 120 of us left when the call to start marching was made and I rather doubt we even reached 150 on the way, so we were too few to have any real reason to do so.
What actually happened was that we walked to Romana Square, spent around 15 minutes in that area and then returned, crossing the road several times after the gendarmes quickly stopped an initial attempt to actually walk on it. Once they even blocked us from crossing on a green light, holding us back for a few minutes, but the rest of the time the head of the column usually started to cross while the light was green and all the rest of us would follow, even if the light turned red well before everyone reached the other side. Admittedly, this was certain to annoy some motorists and after a while it was starting to feel rather silly, but it was an efficient method of gaining some visibility despite our numbers.
After we returned in front of the Theater, around 7:40 PM, rejoining those who had either stayed behind or arrived too late, it seemed that the evening was about to end. However, the call made some 15 minutes later, to move to the underground passage because there was something else to do before scattering, proved that not to be the case. Of course, for some it wouldn’t have been the case either way, as they remained outside in an attempt to simply continue the protest in that location for a while longer, alongside the hunger strikers, but some of the rest of us charged into the metro station at 8:15 PM, after finally being made aware of what was actually meant by doing something different to take our message directly to the people.
Since some simply jumped over the turnstiles, police quickly approached us, asking to see proof that we had paid the fare, which resulted in some shouting and may have caused a worse incident if a train wouldn’t have arrived. Admittedly, we meant to go to Unirii Square and that first train was coming from that direction, but we could always switch later, so a few protesters ran towards it just as the doors were closing, to hold a few of them open just long enough for the rest of us to join them, leaving the police behind.
Once inside, we briefly debated whether we should get off at Victoriei Square, but decided we’d probably be expected there and therefore switched trains at the very next stop, which is Romana Square, making use of the time we spent waiting to display our signs and banners while Alex made something of a speech, apologizing for any inconvenience before briefly explaining our causes and the reasons why we felt it was necessary to carry out such an act of civil disobedience, protests being forbidden inside metro stations, not to mention inside the trains themselves. This led to police once again approaching us, but only after a few minutes and just before the train we wanted arrived, so we agreed to stay quiet when we were asked to do so and then slipped away, continuing the protest inside the train itself, on our way to Unirii Square.
Somewhat to our surprise, we didn’t seem to be expected there, though police did approach us as we stopped in the passage between Unirii Square 1 and Unirii Square 2. They seemed to only want to make sure we won’t be blocking the way, however, so they didn’t follow after we got moving again, even though we ended up positioning ourselves in the station itself, spreading out to properly display all the banners while Alex was standing on the stairs and once again delivering the speech through the loudspeaker. In fact, close to ten minutes passed before we saw another police uniform, and even then its wearer was only looking our way from above, not seeming too convinced that he should step in. Even so, spotting him was the cue for the others to get on the next train and leave again, but by then I had taken the last few pictures and was planning to leave anyway, so I waited for the other train instead and did so. It was 8:45 PM.

To finally move on to what happened over the following five days, if I’m to only list what’s specifically taking place in Bucharest I should probably start by mentioning two more events that were part of the exhibition dedicated to the fight against fracking, which I wrote about in the previous protest report as well. The first was a viewing of Gasland, starting at 5 PM on February 9, while the second was a debate about the accessible water supply and the water cycle from the perspective of a horticulturist, the purpose obviously being to stress the negative influence fracking has on growing plants. This latter event took place on February 12, starting at 6 PM.
Otherwise, a large number of urgent messages, posted by many known activists and pages, called people to gather across the road from the Chamber of Deputies entrance of the Parliament from 1 PM on February 11, when the final vote on the law that it all started from was apparently scheduled. This call seemed completely pointless to me, as this law was already rejected by the Senate and the relevant committees and many of its key elements are now being gradually included in others, in order to make the process harder for us to track, so it’s largely redundant and this final rejection should be a mere formality. In addition, politicians know that turning around and approving it will make people take to the streets in large numbers once again and they have absolutely no reason to risk such a thing when elections are looming and they see that protests have largely died out without their “help”. As such, I wasn’t surprised when I saw messages stating that few people attended, around 30 according to one report, and even they quickly scattered, after learning that the vote was delayed. At the time I’m writing this, on February 22, it’s still far down the order.
The next day, from 5 PM, probably around 20 people gathered in front of the Ukrainian embassy, to show solidarity with the Ukrainian protesters. The event was apparently authorized and the ambassador came outside to talk to them, but this is all I know.
Also on February 12, a call asking for the banners, signs and anything else people created and displayed during the protests for Rosia Montana was posted. The donated items will be displayed and then auctioned during an exhibition which is to take place next month, all proceeds being used to fund the campaign. In addition, a different fundraising exhibition actually did open the next day and will remain open until March 5, 50% of the amount paid for each work of art being donated to a cause chosen by the customer. This was also promoted by activists because one of the four choices is the “Adopt a House at Rosia Montana” campaign, and it may also be noted that another is a small independent media group that has supported the protesters all along. And while I’m at it, I’ll also mention that a message that was also posted on February 13 announced that the photographic exhibition reflecting the cultural patrimony of Rosia Montana, which opened on February 6, will remain open until February 25.