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"We Don’t Want to Be a Nation of Thieves" – November 5 in Bucharest

With the ruling coalition again attempting to change laws dealing with the justice system, the proposed changes including elements from the infamous OUG 13 that triggered the massive protests at the start of the year as well as new potential threats, a call for another significant protest was made. Sticking to this year’s “tradition”, the starting location was again Victory Square, in front of the Government, and the date and time were picked so it’ll again be on a Sunday evening, people being asked to start gathering at 6 PM. However, with the proposals now going through Parliament, a march was planned, starting at 7 PM, with the protest initially supposed to finish at 9 PM in Constitution Square, in front of the Parliament. There were, of course, hopes of large numbers, but at the same time the activists and groups making this call tried to keep expectations in check, to prevent disappointment.
Well, they shouldn’t have worried. Sure, it was nothing like February’s peak, but even considering the estimates coming from the media, which tended to be of around 20000 participants, it was still something which may have appeared impossible before the autumn of 2013, and the estimates of up to 40000 coming from some activists would make it seriously challenge the biggest protests that took place before this year. I really couldn’t make my own estimate, said before that if it’s over 10000 I won’t even try and it was definitely far more than that, but I can say that it took 40 minutes for the entire column to reach Constitution Square, since the first ones reached it at 8:34 PM and it was 9:12 PM when I could finally see the end, while standing a bit before the end of the road leading to the Square, so 20000 seems rather low. Maybe 30000, to be in between?
Now it can be said that people were there for different reasons again, and it’s not like the ruling coalition didn’t provide plenty lately, among them the planned massive and deeply troubling fiscal changes and the changes to laws that would grant law enforcement additional powers and replace some fines with possible significant jail time, including for behaviors that certainly make the changes appear to be intended to stifle protests. But most of the signs and slogans had to do with the original issue and the general perception of PSD and their allies as corrupt and at war with the justice system, plus of course the overall anger and opposition to them, regardless of reason. I for one was actually quite bothered by the apparent absence of those changes likely to stifle protests from the participants’ agenda and the explicit support shown by a fair number towards certain people and institutions which, while opposing PSD in this battle over the justice system, are far from faultless themselves. But as long as the result is a rekindled movement pushing back against this ruling coalition and their program as a whole, and also since there’s no support actually expressed for PNL, it tackles the immediate concern, the rest being things that can be handled after, or if, they’ll be stopped.

Moving on to what actually happened, I got there a bit late, reaching Victory Square at 6:15 PM and stopping on the sidewalk in front of the Government to set my camera down, so the long exposure needed won’t be a problem, and take the first of my pictures. I obviously couldn’t estimate how many people were there at that time from across the road, but there were definitely enough to promise a significant turnout, considering how early it still was, and many more kept arriving. As I was going all around, initially meaning to use the public toilet nearby before seeing there was a line already, I heard some saying they expected traffic to be stopped soon, which was what happened.
Since, after seeing that line, I went to use the toilet at a place nearby which I had used for this purpose during those massive protests as well, I don’t know exactly when traffic was stopped at least on two sides, but it had already happened at 6:35 PM, when I got back. Few were making use of it just at that moment, so the road was quite empty, but quite a crowd was already in the Square, making your way through at least parts of that area getting to be somewhat difficult. But I had to make my way through, and quite quickly, because I wanted to take pictures of as many signs as I could before the start of the march.
That didn’t give me much time, however, since people started moving just after 6:50 PM, so about ten minutes earlier than planned. Very slowly at first, seeming to just gather at the edge of the area, making me wonder whether the gendarmes will try to stop us from leaving, but I guess they just needed a moment to get in formation and coordinate with the Police to stop traffic, because otherwise they caused no problems. They were present in large numbers, including some on horseback, one of the horses sadly looking to be in a poor condition and struggling, but those visible were in light gear and they just did their job, ensuring the safety of both participants and traffic. Considering the number of protesters, trying anything would have been terribly unwise, but considering their behavior towards the few still gathering every evening in Victory Square in recent months and the rumors that they had orders to stop further protests, it wasn’t a given that they’ll be as nice as they were. Now it remains to be seen whether some will be served fines later, however.

With the march itself being uneventful, we reached Romana Square at 7:20 PM and University Square at 7:50 PM. By then, I had finally managed to work my way through and get ahead of the column, to take some pictures of the front as well, though I had to drop back a little and then get back to the sidewalk, which I otherwise used much of the time as I tried to advance, and go around the gendarmes trying to maintain some order there, as one grabbed my arm and shoved me back when I rather unexpectedly found myself breaking free of the column and stepping ahead of the banners held at the front. No complaints about that, since it was my fault for not realizing it, as you really shouldn’t just walk through the head of the column.
It was a good thing I was ahead of the column well before University Square though, since for some reason I felt a certain pressing need again by then and could run to the toilet in the underground passage and get back out in time to see the column stop as people were asked to hold a moment of silence… Which also meant I could go before those toilets are temporarily closed for cleaning, which the listed schedule says happens at 8 PM, so going after the march got going again, some five minutes later, since a call was made to sing the anthem after the moment of silence, wouldn’t have been an option. Didn’t personally sing it though, instead using the time to look for something to climb on for a couple of crowd shots.
The thing is that I only had one unused pair of batteries, had put it in the camera from the beginning and the camera already turned off at some point during the march. I’m sure it was before reaching Unirii Square, which happened at 8:10 PM, but it may have already been before University Square, I’m not sure anymore. Either way, from that point forward I had to keep swapping between that pair and the three drained ones that I also had with me, squeezing just a little more out of each in order to eventually take dozens more pictures. I was worried that I’ll need to give up at some point, but in the end I could make it work, though two pictures, one taken in Constitution Square and another actually on the way back, after catching up to the person who had that last sign I had spotted, ended up as bad as they did after my camera turned itself off twice as I tried to take them somewhat more properly and then I couldn’t get myself to once again get close and try a third time right away.
But to return to the march, after passing Unirii Square and turning right, there was a section of road that was dark, those with loudspeakers asking participants to use their phones as lights because, they assumed, the mayor had ordered the lights turned off so the march won’t be visible. And in fact it is something that tends to happen, lights being turned off as a march either approaches or goes around the Parliament, but this time the area affected wasn’t large and Constitution Square, which was reached at 8:34 PM by the first ones and a minute later by the actual head of the column, was properly lit… Though the Square itself was closed off, work to prepare the Christmas fair having already started, so people had to go around that entire area in order to gather on the road on the other side, in front of the Parliament.
What actually took place there, I can’t say too much about, since I started making my way back right after making sure that the march will actually end there, wandering up and down the stream of people that kept arriving, looking for signs I had missed. That allowed me to know that it took the entire column 40 minutes to reach the Square, or more exactly the end of Unirii Boulevard, though, as I already stated above, and also to see that people started leaving quickly after reaching the Parliament. Admittedly, that place is huge, even the road itself, with the Square closed off as it was, offering room for huge numbers, but the crowd was quite rarefied when I finally made my way back to the other side and eventually left as well, at 9:25 PM. Did read that some gathered in front of the nearby Ministry of Justice after that though, the last ones leaving around, or at least not long after, 10 PM.

There would probably be a few more things to add, but this was rushed and already even messier due to being a mix between an actual protest report and a personal post, so there’s just one last thing I’ll mention and that’s that opposition politicians announced their support for the protest and, in particular in case of those from USR, the fact that they’ll attend. Some known activists were bothered by this, Claudiu lashing out in a post written the next day even though he and plenty of others are in the process of registering a party, but I for one only seriously frown at the reported presence of at least one leading member of PNL, though I can also understand the problems with the fact that former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and some others from his group also took part. USR members who used to be activists and who took part in plenty of protests before becoming politicians, on the other hand, have every right to be there as far as I’m concerned, even if I definitely agree that now they should first make use of the tools their new positions offer them.

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