Cav's Place

To be very clear, this will be a rushed post, at least considering the period it covers, not just because I need to finish it today but also, and I’d say mainly, because the protests that took place these days, and most notably between Wednesday and Sunday last week, were so massive that I couldn’t possibly write anything that wouldn’t be completely inadequate even if I’d be dedicating a post to each day. Plus, I took no pictures and didn’t wander around nearly enough, not that it’d have been possible to get a truly good image from the ground even if I’d have tried, considering the size and density of the crowd. And if these reports were supposed to be about the protests and actions organized or at least clearly supported by the United We Save Community, this movement was so massive that its involvement was just a drop in the bucket.
I’ll be picking up where the previous report left off and then going through the days one by one, checking some reports I looked at then as well, right after the fact, and linking to an article and a picture or two that I also shared on the night in question or maybe the following day. Don’t expect many details here, links to additional articles or to photo albums to show signs or other details. If you want them, you can find those yourselves, and anyone interested should already know far, far more than I’ll be writing here.

The quick reaction that began late during the evening of January 31, when the measure was announced as adopted, continued in the night, people rushing to Victory Square however they could, meeting each other as they ran on the streets after public transportation was no longer available. Some media sources that support the protests reported as much as 20000 people there at the peak, but more reasonable numbers seem to be 12000 to 15000, with many known activists and groups seeming to prefer the low end, 12000, the next day. Shared a crowd shot taken around 12:30 AM that night. Though the numbers dropped quickly after a point, there were still at least several hundred people at 2 AM and that night’s protest only actually ended around 3 AM.
The decision was officially published around 1 AM, but only the measure limiting the protections for informers to those coming forward no more than six months after the crime they were involved in came into effect immediately, the text specifying that the rest were delayed for ten days, so there was still some time. Some were no longer interested in any calm approach though, and while most issued repeated calls to continue the protests strictly peacefully, this unfortunately even included some known activists, most notably Alex being among those shaking the gate and fence and meaning to go inside, then posting angry rants that others didn’t follow and advocating the use of some violent means to send a message. The gendarmes had cooler heads though, spraying a little tear gas but mostly picking up the few who did go over the fence and taking them back outside and explaining to them and others that they’re allowed to protest all the way up to the fence, even allowing a few on it, but that they will be forced to prosecute those who insist on going over.

Then came Wednesday, with people called to come to the Square from 9 AM, a couple thousand being there during the day, and a massive protest expected for the evening. But I don’t think anybody truly expected it to be as massive as it was. There were posts saying we could fill the Square with 100000 people, but at the time they were written I’d be tempted to consider them expressions of wishful thinking, yet the Square was indeed filled and people kept pouring in, filling the surrounding area as well. Estimates, even those given by the media supporting PSD, reached and then exceeded 100000, eventually settling between 120000 and 150000, and a total of 250000 to 300000 all over the country. It was stunning, mind-boggling, something not seen since the Revolution and likely exceeding even that in terms of numbers. Shared a panoramic shot taken around 9 PM, another of the Square itself and an article then.
It was an outpouring of anger, but for quite a number of hours that seemed limited to slogans and signs. And before getting to the point where a small group changed that, let me also mention the solidarity shown, how people came together, started organizing and helping each other. Offers of places to stay for those coming from other cities to protest in Bucharest started during the night, as that quick reaction was still taking place; some were sharing means of transportation as well. Then during the day there were offers of free materials for signs and banners, or even of firms willing to create them for protesters for free, plus others offering hot tea or coffee, biscuits, pizza in one case, even warm clothes in another. People were bringing food and hot drinks to the Square and offering them to others, they were starting to work together to ensure this will continue for some time despite the conditions, and then, during the night, after the mess between that group of hooligans and the gendarmes ended, a group formed and returned to the Square to clean up.
Yes, there were some who clearly showed up with different intentions and I later learned that reports about this had started a couple of hours before their presence clearly became noticeable and the gendarmes knew of them even earlier, even releasing statements about it and asking the other protesters to aid them in isolating them and allow them to remove them if needed. Yet they were not removed and at around 10 PM firecrackers started being thrown with increasing frequency, followed by brief booing and shouts of “no violence” from the other protesters. Yet that group, numbering in the dozens from what I saw or, at most, according to some reports, a couple hundred, was determined and any attempts to reason with them fell on deaf ears, so as they gathered in one place and started battling the gendarmes the other protesters in their immediate vicinity cleared away, with the exception of a few who tried to form a cordon between the two groups, protecting the gendarmes with their bodies and shouting desperately at the hooligans to stop. Since that also failed and the gendarmes advanced and tear gas started being used, people cleared away from larger parts of the Square and scattered around the surrounding area, some leaving, others returning sooner or later at least to have another look. Most who were still there at the time quickly cleared the area around midnight though, as even more gendarmes poured in and started arresting and in a few cases even beating anyone in the general area of the hooligans, finally ending the conflict but also the protest.

The next day saw a lower turnout, but the numbers were still huge. It didn’t look like it at first, with few in the area before evening and that overwhelming flood of people seen around 6 PM the previous day not repeating even by 8 PM, with reports estimating some 7000 at 7 PM and maybe 30000 an hour later. Yet people did pour in after that, with the peak estimated at around 80000, 90000 according to some. As such, even if it was the second day in a row for most, third for some, so soon after the January 29 march and just before the weekend, people proved they weren’t giving up, weren’t willing to let anything slip, and also won’t let themselves be chased away by some violent elements.
Other than the fact that a few groups appeared playing drums and a few other instruments, at least one also occasionally working a few slogans into the music, there isn’t that much to say about that evening and I didn’t share anything that night, so no links to add either. Still, must make note of the fact that there were no further incidents, the gendarmes picking up a few suspicious individuals before they could actually do anything, to cheers from the crowd when the moments were noticed. There were even slogans and signs supporting the Gendarmerie, which would have been quite unbelievable during previous protests, and gendarmes were given flowers, which admittedly had happened before, and them and a number of protesters shook hands. Sadly, plenty of known activists were angered by this, posting to remind people of the rough treatment received from gendarmes in the past, plus all the fines, but while it’s clear that they were ordered to be nice this time and would likely quickly change their behavior if the orders did, I fail to see how can one expect good behavior from others while continuing to punish them for past events even when they do display it at present.

Friday was huge again, similar to or possibly even bigger than Wednesday, more of the estimates lining up at 150000. Shared an article that night and you can also see a crowd shot there, but was making note of the fact that people were getting organized even better and there’s more effort and more resources poured into this movement. To some extent, that created a feeling of pressure, at least for me, but it definitely also helped in many ways. People could more easily just grab a sign, having quite a number of options to choose from, if they didn’t bring their own, the creativity of those who did bring stuff increased even further, a nearby building became a screen on which slogans and some other images were projected, there was also a sound system at the opposite end of the Square from the Government, and so on.
And I guess there’s little else I have to say about it, despite the numbers, or perhaps just because of them. Oh, I could mention that, starting from someone’s idea posted earlier, the anthem was sung by the crowd at 10 PM. Past that, the protest again ended after midnight, with no incidents to report and protesters and gendarmes continuing to interact in a friendly manner. Events planned for Saturday began in the morning, but the vast majority only planned to return in the evening anyway, plus that most were already exhausted and ill but were determined to keep going. Of course, like every night, as the other protesters cleared away, some grabbed garbage bags and cleaned the Square.

As I said above, Saturday’s events started early for some. Even saw a planned run around the Palace of Parliament and then to Victory Square, starting at 8 AM, but can’t say I happened to see anything else about it that day or later and didn’t start searching either. Then there was a protest meant for children and their parents, attended by thousands, supposedly between 11 AM and 1 PM, but with the march planned to start at 4 PM, the people coming for it didn’t really start arriving until 3 PM, so the children’s protest stretched on in the Square until then. While some eventually left around that time, some remained and even took part in the march.
As the numbers were still low at 4 PM, by which I mean several thousand, the start was delayed for a bit, but people were moving by 4:20 PM and the crowd, which kept growing as the march continued, reached University Square, where there was a very brief stop, people being asked to honor the heroes who died there, around 5:10 or 5:15 PM. Constitution Square and therefore the Parliament was reached around 5:45 PM and a brief stop in front of the nearby Ministry of Justice took place some five minutes later. Then, after some confusion, as some wanted to continue on, the crowd turned and started walking around the Parliament, for the planned human chain. That failed to form though, as it wasn’t long before people no longer stopped to line up one next to the other, there was also a moment when the gendarmes wanted to stop us and send us on another route, and when, after just a little while, they agreed to block the road all around and let us continue on the planned route, people pretty much just walked around that entire area, the larger group that had gone ahead meeting with a smaller one that had at some point decided to go the other way around 6:20 PM, about halfway down the third side in the direction the larger group was walking in. There was another attempt to form a chain then, but it didn’t last long at all, people generally, and disappointingly, agreeing that 20000, or even 30000 according to some, were far too many to stick to any plan. Either way, as we continued to Victory Square, there was a moment of silence followed by singing the anthem around 7:05 PM, in Revolution Square, and those at the head of the march started getting back to Victory Square around 7:30 PM.
Tens of thousands more had gathered in the Square while the rest of us were marching, so the end of the march took the form of one large crowd walking right into another, quite a number of those waiting cheering the arrival of those who had marched. Then, as numbers continued growing over the following hours, estimates reached and then exceeded those from the previous days, going over 150000, stopping around maybe 170000 at the peak. It was yet another record, yet another protest that was the biggest since the Revolution and, at least in terms of sheer numbers of people in the street, maybe even bigger than that. Didn’t share any article about the protest itself that night though, but I did share a panoramic picture taken around 9:30 PM.
Mentioned above that I didn’t share any article about the protest itself because I did share one, and it did also mention the protest, but the headline referred to the fact that the Government announced scrapping the measure Saturday evening. Not that anybody believed them at that point, or that it’d have been enough in itself after all of this, but the Prime Minister even made it worse by saying they still had to think of the best way to do it, whether it’s a matter of canceling or delaying. So, of course, word got passed around the Square during the evening, but the information was largely dismissed and it changed nothing in the attitude the protesters had that evening or in their plans for Sunday.

And then came Sunday, when something truly massive was expected and people weren’t going to be surprised by the sheer scale anymore. Estimates of 250000 in Bucharest and half a million total were all over, as the target most were quite certain will be reached, and some were hoping to even double those numbers. That didn’t happen, but nobody was disappointed, since the records set the day before were nevertheless smashed, estimates for Bucharest ranging between “over 200000” and 300000. As for what I shared that night, the crowd shots were actually drone shots, considering the area that had to be covered, and I shared two, plus an article that also includes a great shot taken when everybody was asked to turn on lights and videos of that same moment. And then I sent two more pictures in a message to someone, so adding those too.
Back to the numbers, the part of the media loyal to PSD insisted on much lower figures, however, even only in the tens of thousands, but as they tried to explain that no more than that could actually fit in the Square, others pointed out the entire area occupied by people and ran numbers to make estimates, the calculations I saw leading to the conclusion that, while 250000 isn’t an entirely implausible number, it’s more reasonable to say that there were 150000 to perhaps 175000 people there at one time, but people were constantly coming and going, some arriving when others were leaving, the metro station was also full, some were grabbing hot drinks or food or using toilets over quite a wide area, some were simply leaving the crowded area to move around a little, so it is largely agreed among activists and more independent media sources that around or even more than 300000 people are likely to have taken part in Sunday evening’s protest in total.
And to mention United We Save specifically, some of the activists worked together to repeat something that was done at some point during the 2013 protests, namely having marches start from various neighborhoods and uniting at the end, this time of course in Victory Square. Many seemed not to understand the idea, or pretended not to, so they kept being accused of breaking up the protest, but they stood firm and the events took place, albeit with a small number of participants. People were asked to gather in various points from 4 PM and were supposed to start marching at 5 PM, though that was changed on Sunday to 4:30 PM for the routes exceeding seven kilometers. Each route also had at least one major node listed, where people who couldn’t make it to the starting location could wait to be picked up, and they were all supposed to reach the destination at 7 PM. Not that it mattered much, since the one I took part in started with some 17 or 18 people and ended up at a little over 30 when we reached University Square, where we joined with another group coming from another part of the city and which numbered around 100 or perhaps a little over, but I also heard of a group that started with just three. And once we got past Romana Square, we just mixed with a growing wave of people pressing forward, and I guess all the others did the same.
There were already a whole lot of people in Victory Square when we finally got there, I think at about 7:30 PM, by which time the Government had officially canceled that decision, but in a way which allows it to return, so of course it made no difference. At that time, the three laser projectors which some people had added to the “arsenal” that evening were being set up, displaying messages on the Government building itself and two others. I also saw later that the anthem had already been sung once at 7 PM, and this continued to happen every hour, as planned, with the exception of 9 PM, when people were asked to turn on lights, the anthem being delayed for 9:10 PM. A moment of silence for the victims of the Colectiv club fire and of the Revolution was also held at 9:30 PM. And it should go without saying that creativity was even greater than before. People started leaving in large numbers after 10 PM though, likely more quickly than in previous evenings, and the protest may have died down a bit sooner than before, but reports say there were still a few thousand present even at 11:30 PM.

Most people took a break after that, many being utterly exhausted, ill and having simply put their lives on hold for the past several days, and there were also plans for continuing the protests in other ways, such as a general strike promoted by some of the known activists, starting with 5 minutes on Monday, 10 on Tuesday, 30 on Wednesday, one hour on Thursday and all day on Friday. Still, at least a few people, or in some cases just one person, continued to show up in Victory Square even early in the morning, to ensure there was always at least someone there, and evenings continue to see significant protests which only appear small when compared to the mind-boggling scale of those that took place last week.
Should probably start listing this week’s events with the fact that Rosia Montana Day was marked on Monday, though. Then, back to the protests, I’ll go through them quickly and say that I saw estimates usually settling around 20000, though some went as high as 25000, Monday evening, before numbers dropped to only around 5000 or at least not too much over that on Tuesday. Wednesday it snowed and it was bitterly cold, yet some once again showed up early and started clearing the snow away from most of the Square, leaving some areas where messages had been written in the snow, and the crowd peaked at several thousand in the evening, estimates ranging between 5000 and 10000, but with many saying that people were there in shifts due to the conditions, so significantly more are likely to have actually taken part. A protest in front of the National Audiovisual Council (CNA) was also scheduled for that evening, demanding harsher action against the lies and manipulation coming from the TV stations loyal to PSD, but it was delayed for next week due to the conditions and the need for all those still willing to go out to maintain the pressure in Victory Square. As for today, when it was still bitterly cold and a fair amount of snow had settled over the city, I again saw reports of about 5000 at the peak. Oh, and I even forgot to mention it at first, happening so late that it’s really quite irrelevant, but the Minister of Justice finally resigned today.