Cav's Place

Other protests and events took place since the last one I wrote a report for, but I neither attended nor followed closely enough to be able to write anything meaningful about any of those, only glancing at a few things about the short march from the Government to PSD’s headquarters that took place on November 12, when the gendarmes made the protesters stay on the sidewalk, saying they were too few to use the road, even though it seems that traffic was stopped anyway.
So I’ll leave the period in between aside otherwise and get right to what happened on November 26, when dozens of NGOs and civic groups, as well as unions and other organizations, joined the call to oppose the Government and the ruling coalition’s plans to change laws that have to do with the justice system, as well as the changes to the tax system and to the regulations that govern the activity of NGOs, and the troubling rhetoric steering into Anti-Europeanism and possibly also causing some concern for NATO allies. The fact that unions and activists supported each other is particularly notable, as the regular activists tend to deeply distrust union leaders and union members have previously removed such known protesters from their events when they meant to attend in order to show their support, for example when the protest had to do with education or the medical system.

The call was to gather in Victory Square, in front of the Government, from 6 PM, with nothing else listed before noon on the day of the protest itself, when a message appeared with a map of the planned march, going to University Square, then taking a slightly different route from there to Constitution Square in order to get directly to the Ministry of Justice first, only passing through Constitution Square after that in order to reach the Constitutional Court, then going all around to finish the march in front of the Chamber of Deputies entrance without turning around on the spot. At 6.5 km, it was hardly a long march compared to those from 2013, but this year people got used to either stay in one place or march directly from the Government to the Parliament and then stop there, so following a number of complaints the plan was changed on even shorter notice, a new route involving turning around at the Constitutional Court, passing through Constitution Square a second time and getting to the Chamber of Deputies entrance that way being posted less than 30 minutes before 6 PM.
I for one didn’t even notice this change until I checked the event page again now, since I was already on the way at the time, and either way this new plan wasn’t exactly followed either, plus that some continued to complain about the very fact that there was to be a march, wanting to stay in Victory Square instead. In fact, while I was close to the head of the column and didn’t notice this either at the time, I learned when I got back and checked the news that some, around 1000 or even 2000 people according to some reports, chose to remain in Victory Square when the rest started marching. But most, around 10000 people according to reports, began to slowly move around 7:20 PM and at the scheduled time of 7:30 PM the march clearly started.

Unlike three weeks ago, however, that didn’t go smoothly, and protesters and gendarmes share the blame for it. It would have been entirely possible to march on only one side of the road, as it happened then as well, yet the protesters kept trying to push through and block both, while at the same time the gendarmes could have either tried to stop them with only a normal cordon or given up faster when they realized that a significant number of people were determined to get through. But instead the mounted gendarmes were grouped at the front of the column and used to try to hold people to one side of the road, the horses understandably getting agitated and the situation being close to escalating. Worse, one activist who actually works at a horse shelter that she says also cares for some retired horses previously used by the Gendarmerie stated that she only saw one gendarme who handled his horse properly, the actions of the others agitating them even more.
Fortunately, soon enough the gendarmes did realize that nothing good will come of that strategy and all the mounted ones rode away, the others allowing people to use both sides of the road. Personally, I quite like to see the mounted ones around, or more exactly like to see the horses, but once that decision was made to use them to form a cordon and try to hold increasingly angry people back, it was clear that they couldn’t be used anymore that evening, a significant risk of injury for both horses and protesters existing otherwise and such an event being almost certain to lead to the protest turning violent. Also, while I’m not sure they would have managed it without the use of some force, if they really wanted to keep people from blocking both sides of the road, they’d have definitely had a much better chance of doing it by keeping the horses away from the places where people were determined to push through in the first place.

Either way, once that was over, the march continued smoothly, the head of the column reaching Romana Square around 7:50 PM and University Square just before 8:15 PM, the numbers continuing to grow during this time. Estimates were of 25000 to 30000 in the end, some stating that the total was probably around 30000 but the peak maybe around 25000, and it’s not quite clear when that was reached, because there was some confusion even after University Square, and then a whole lot after reaching Constitution Square, so only a few thousand stopped in front of the Ministry of Justice and not that many more eventually, in scattered groups, made their way over to the planned end point, in front of the Chamber of Deputies entrance. But, as I said, things went well until University Square, where there was a stop, people being asked to hold a moment of silence and then sing the anthem, as it usually happens.

It was more than ten minutes before the crowd started moving out of University Square. Some, those who knew the evening’s plan and agreed with it, were trying to go right for a bit in order to get on Victoriei, others even wanted to stay in University Square, some may have just left for good at that point, but eventually people went straight ahead, following the usual route, though the column became quite loose. We got to Unirii Square around 8:40 PM and the head of the column was reaching Constitution Square just before 8:55 PM.
Once there, especially since, just like last time, we actually had to go all around instead of through the Square due to the preparations for the Christmas Fair, I assumed that people were at least going to stop at the Ministry of Justice first, but the large majority turned left instead of right and simply gathered in front of the Parliament, only a pretty small group being gathered with some difficulty in front of the Ministry. And then things got even more confused, with some, which seemed to include those with loudspeakers who had been trying to keep some trace of order until then, heading straight for the Chamber of Deputies entrance, and others going back to the Square, while I heard that some of those who were already there meant to keep going the other way, probably to the Constitutional Court. Since I just briefly went back at that point, to very quickly look for a few more signs to take pictures of before following that first group to the planned ending location, not sure if anyone actually got there, much less if anyone followed the first announced route to go all around.

As I mentioned before, those who reached the Chamber of Deputies entrance did so in scattered groups. In fact, quite a number of those who had stopped in front of the Ministry of Justice and then continued in that direction broke away either to return to Constitution Square or to leave for good before a more determined effort by some of those with loudspeakers managed to pull some more of those stopped in the Square in that direction, and even then a group seemed to just stop there at the intersection. So the protest ended in a rather unfortunate manner, but those who did get to that planned ending location wandered away slowly, so I see reports that there were still 2000 or so there, which seems to be a fair estimate based on what I saw as well, when people were asked to make light with their phones, or whatever other light sources they happened to have, just before 10 PM. Then there was another call to sing the anthem, which pretty much marked the end of the protest, and that was when I left as well, after having wandered away a few minutes earlier to have one last look around the corner and noticing the Square pretty much deserted already.

One last thing I want to mention is that, despite all the confusion and people disagreeing and going in different directions, plus that initial problem with the mounted gendarmes, I actually expected worse, mainly being concerned by all the groups announcing their participation, the unions most of all. But not only that they didn’t try to take control of the protest or otherwise convey the idea that it was organized by them, but I actually didn’t notice any obvious signs that they were even present. I heard of some reports on hostile media sources of people brought from surrounding cities and, if true, they may have been responsible for that, but there couldn’t have been any significant number and, again, they didn’t stand out in any way.
Otherwise, this time I didn’t see any reports of members of PNL participating, which is good. Members of USR were obviously present, but not drawing any attention to themselves, so I for one only noticed some of those I’ve known for years, activists who decided to join the party and definitely still have as much of a right to be there as those who didn’t make that choice, though I heard people mention that they recognized the party’s new president around as well. Former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos was also present, same as three weeks ago, and that once again was controversial, but as long as he just walks calmly somewhere among a large column of people, I for one don’t care, even if the media seeks him out for interviews. The only thing that made me raise an eyebrow was a speech made in Victory Square, before the start of the march, by a journalist I guess known for lashing out at the ruling coalition and claiming to be an activist but largely seen as an example of what’s wrong with journalism, said speech also prompting messages posted by the groups attempting to more or less organize these protests, distancing themselves from him and repeating their request, made before the march as well, to avoid such speeches.