Cav's Place

I’ll start this post with something I should have said at the end of the previous one, namely that the September 8 marches did prompt a reaction from the ruling coalition the next day, when the leaders said that the Parliament will reject the law proposal. However, the Prime Minister not only made it seem that he believed that was the only demand the protesters had, but also stated that there will be negative consequences in case this will happen, starting from damages in the billions that Romania will need to pay to the corporation in question, and it won’t be the Government that’ll pay that price, but all the citizens. The company also issued a statement claiming to ask for such damages, although there is, of course, no basis for such a claim, everything being nothing more than an attempt to reduce the number of people on the streets, as some will end up believing that the matter is settled while others will be too afraid of said consequences to continue.
In addition, RMGC and its allies started yet another massive campaign, filling all the media channels with advertisements promoting the project and staging “debates” between their people and various “leaders” of the protesters that we usually didn’t recognize, said debates often also being moderated by people whose attitude and behavior showed that they also supported the project, or at least had to appear to do so, and featuring their advertisements during every break. This campaign even included ongoing protests in favor of the project, these supposedly being staged by people from Rosia Montana and the surrounding area, some of which are admittedly desperate enough to fall for the dream RMGC sells them, but it’s obvious that a good part of them were brought there by RMGC specifically for this purpose and some were even recognized and proven not to be the miners they posed as.
Later, perhaps noticing that the strategy wasn’t having the desired result, the Prime Minister went back on his word yet again, even making the rather frightening statement that when he first opposed it, back when blocking the project was listed as one of the main points of the coalition’s program, he didn’t exactly know anything about it and was against it solely because the President was in favor. However, his main ally, who had actually been personally in favor of the project all along, continues to state that he is now against it, the result being that a special commission is being created to analyze the matter, delaying any further proceedings even further, obviously still as an attempt to wait until the protests die out.

Day 11: It can be said that the day started with a statement from the Minister of Internal Affairs, who said that “at the first mistake, the first attack, the first stampede, the gendarmes will step in”. This, coupled with the obvious change in the gendarmes’ behavior the night before and the messages that their orders had changed, made it obvious that the wind had started blowing from a different direction. Far from being scared away, however, the core protesters became even more determined as a result.
Still, the day’s protest was rather subdued, with nothing actually happening until 9 PM, when there were barely around 200 people around the fountain, though there were some in front of the Theater as well and the protest against killing stray dogs had also split on both sides, with most people on the Theater side, between the metro exit and the square, but a small group also sitting next to us, beating a drum and having a large number of sheets of paper with slogans printed on them spread in front. Gendarmes were also present in greater numbers, with two negotiators always visible, and in the end they only allowed one side of Elisabeta to be occupied, again after 11 PM, when the reports say the number of protesters had grown to about 700. Everything apparently broke up around 12:45 AM.
The focus during the early part of the day’s protest, before moving to Elisabeta, was on the groups of activists that were to go around the city over the coming days to talk to people directly and spread tens of thousands of fliers, and on discussion groups, three of which being organized around the fountain that day, on legal, archaeological and economic matters, each led by an expert in the field.

Day 12: With many of those who are more involved being around the city, talking to people and spreading fliers, I don’t think more than 50 or so showed up around the fountain. In fact, there were perhaps slightly more across the road, in front of the Theater, and those included some of those who used to be from that crowd but had moved over to ours over the span of this protest. Also there, still between the metro exit and the square, around 100 people continued the protest against killing stray dogs, though some had banners that mentioned Rosia Montana as well.
Eventually, it started raining and everybody rushed into the underground passage, where we were some 200 total, and we remained united after the rain ended and we went back up, continuing the protest around the fountain. The people who led the chants were the usual ones from our side, who acknowledged the presence of those who were primarily there for the dogs but otherwise stuck to our regular “repertoire”. Later, a saxophone player showed up briefly, but everything seems to have ended quietly by midnight, marking the first time when no street was occupied.

Day 13: When Alex, who seemed to be taking over in order to allow Claudiu and Vlad to rest their voices for Sunday’s march, tried to get something started around 8:45 PM, there were about 70 people present. That number grew to perhaps 150 by 10 PM, after which it remained roughly constant, those who arrived even later more or less matching those who were leaving. However, around 30 people gathered in the discussion group regarding archaeological issues and a few never engaged in any way, leaving about 100 to protest. Worse, not even most of those ever gathered in a single group and as time went on they scattered more and more, chatting away as no more than 20 or so were left to still seriously try to actually protest.
Things finally got more interesting around 10:50 PM, when the protesters tried to move to Elisabeta before eventually deciding to march through the Old Town instead, announcing Sunday’s march to the people gathered at the many cafés, bars and restaurants in the area and having their numbers grow to around 200 as a result. Then, after returning to University Square around 11:45 PM, they went back to the underground passage for some more protesting and reminders to call everyone for Sunday. There was an attempt to return to the fountain area around 12:20 AM, but it was raining outside, so the day’s protest ended at that point.

Day 14: The day started at 1 PM, when those who wanted to create signs and banners were supposed to gather and do so, putting together materials and being helped by a few more experienced activists. Later, at 4 PM, the plan called for people to start gathering in three different places and, at 5 PM, fill trams running on four different routes, going to the end of the line while talking to the other passengers and putting signs on the windows. Rather surprisingly for me, this worked out rather well, though there were changes made to the plans on the spot, some of the motormen objected to having their trams filled with signs and at least some groups returned by bus, as far more passengers were on those than on trams.
Later, with Alex initially leading the chants and movements and over 200 attending relatively early, perhaps at least in part due to the fact that it was initially announced that some artists will sing starting from 8 PM, the fountain area saw some more actual protesting, though people still tended to spread out and socialize in small groups. Oddly enough, considering the fact that it was clarified that any singing will in fact take place starting from around 10:30 PM, the numbers started dropping after 10 PM.
Still, the interesting part happened after that time, when a call was made to take to the street, where those from the fountain were to join some who had attended a nearby concert. The gendarmes, present in unusually high numbers, didn’t immediately agree to that, however, and that resulted in quite a struggle, with some protesters being dragged, kicked and punched. Being the first time that happened since the start of the protests, some were scared away by such an outcome, but the roughly 100 who remained sat down on the road and eventually things calmed down, negotiations resulting in the protesters being allowed to stay on one side of the road and nearly all gendarmes leaving the area as the singing started. The street eventually cleared around 12:45 AM.

Day 15 (another video, focused on what happened before and after the actual march, with English subtitles available for what’s spoken): Once again, Sunday brings the big march. Though there were a few independent attempts to organize them again, there were no smaller marches scheduled earlier this time around, so people gathered both around the fountain and across the road on their own starting from 5 PM and kept coming over the two hours before we took to the street. At some point during that time, people from Rosia Montana and Barlad joined us and made a few speeches, the most notable obviously being Eugen David’s.
As far as numbers go, we were obviously far too many for the fountain area at the start of the march, so well over 5000, many saying that we were around 10000. That was only the beginning, however, with 30000 being frequently mentioned later during the march, when it took over 20 minutes to watch the entire column walk past, multiple sources stating that the amount of time had increased to 26 minutes as we entered the final portion of the route. That produced estimates that varied wildly, from the “over 10000” admitted by the television stations with ties to the ruling coalition to some quick calculations done by protesters that resulted in numbers as high as 52000, and this time around there doesn’t seem to be any clear agreement after the fact either, with many protesters still saying we were at least 30000 and many mainstream media sources refusing to go above 15000. Independent reporters, some of whom have spent time watching the crowd from the top of buildings, specifically in order to come up with an accurate estimate, agree that we were over 20000, but they seem to shy away from saying 25000. I will, however, say that something around 25000 seems the fairest estimate as far as I’m concerned, and the organizers also seem to have settled on that number by Monday.
The march itself once again lasted a good three and a half hours if you were part of those first scattered groups that arrived back to University Square, so four hours by the time the end of the column got there as well. We still received support from many people who were in their cars or apartments, though my impression was that it was somewhat less enthusiastic than it had been a week before. However, considering how much our numbers grew over the course of the march, particularly as we walked through residential areas, it’s quite clear that many actually came out of their apartments and joined us, meaning that the support was actually even greater.
Anyone who wanted to catch the metro had to hurry to reach the Square, as the first groups only did so around 10:45 PM, but at least this time there was no question about whether or not the entire area will be blocked, the gendarmes stopping traffic even before the protesters got there and only unblocking one side around 1 AM, when the numbers had dropped to no more than a few hundred. The last people eventually left around 2 AM, these hours spent in the Square after the march making for a calmer night than the one that followed the previous major march. You can say that there was some hostility when some politicians were noticed, but otherwise everyone seemed to get along well; you had music, talking, laughing, no more attempts to push people to continue marching in another direction and even the hostility against the mainstream media seemed to have somewhat lessened.
Back to the march, the organization was still poor, and this time I don’t even know what those who may be seen as leaders did because I very rarely saw any of them even though I ran up and down the column myself, trying to take some pictures, most of which turned out embarrassingly bad. Different groups were still chanting different things, there were thousands of people in front of the large banners and this time they stopped to wait for the others even less, so they ended up in scattered groups spread out over a large area, and there even seemed to be some confusion about where to go a couple of times. Once again, however, everything still worked out quite fine in the end.
To continue following the model I used when I wrote about the previous major march, I’ll once again say that the gendarmes and police worked well with us and I definitely didn’t hear anything about them causing any trouble. The only incidents I know of involved a group of violent individuals who seemed to want us to return to University Square at one point, causing some concern until they were brought under control, some protesters who showed open hostility towards the people working for certain mainstream media channels, and at least one driver that I know of who tried to make his way through the crowd before being stopped by the gendarmes.
All in all, this was proof that, although very few people were still showing up around the fountain in the days leading to this march, the movement is not only not dying out, but actually becoming even more powerful. After 5000 people the first time and 15000 the second time, now we had probably 25000 in Bucharest. In addition, once again there were around 10000 in Cluj, and the list of other places, both across the country and abroad, where protests and marches were staged was once again very long. This truly was the alarm bell that woke up Romania, and I can only hope that what I saw written in an article about the march will remain true over the months and years to come: “The sleeping generation is now drinking its coffee and waking up in a shitty world. It takes a deep breath and starts saving it.”

I’ll end this by mentioning that, while tens of thousands of people were marching against the Rosia Montana mining project, our Prime Minister was in Rosia Montana, meeting with the 33 “miners” who were protesting in favor of the project and persuading them to come out of the old mine they had supposedly spent the past few days in, although those galleries are now a museum that people can visit and the protesters looked suspiciously well groomed for people who had been underground for such an amount of time. On the other hand, the President stated that the law project this all started from is unconstitutional and shouldn’t even be voted on by the Parliament, starting a series of obvious moves meant to take advantage of the terrible mistakes the ruling coalition keeps making regarding this issue, although he has been a firm supporter of the project itself all along.

Meant to get up to date, writing a post for days six to 12, but there’s no way I can manage that over two days when I can’t seem to figure out how to squeeze anything in anymore, so here is one for days six to ten and I’ll see about the rest of it later. Maybe I’ll manage to at least cover days 11 and 12 over the weekend, even if Sunday I’ll quite clearly be out pretty much all day and Saturday currently sounds like it’ll be quite weird, and then see about days 13 to 15 on Monday, to at least catch up by then. Don’t hold your breath, though.

Day six: The day started early, with a small group of activists protesting briefly in front of the Parliament building, before being quickly and roughly removed. In addition, seeing as our national team played Hungary that day, the group of supporters that gathered and marched to the stadium also chanted some of our slogans, not to mention that a few chants about Rosia Montana could be heard during the match as well, and at least three large banners were displayed, the most basic of them even being shown on camera as it panned through the crowd. It would have been nice if the Hungarian fans would have joined ours in the effort, seeing as Hungary is also very much against the project, knowing they’ll be affected in case of any accidents, but that didn’t seem to happen.
As expected, the turnout in University Square was initially very low, barely 100 people having gathered at the fountain by 9 PM, when the match started, though hundreds of others quickly showed up shortly after it ended, at which point the gendarmes not only didn’t resist but basically invited people into the street, on Elisabeta boulevard, only recommending that they leave after the football fans will arrive from the stadium, to reduce the risks. That didn’t prove necessary, however, as there was only one real attempt to break through, about 30 minutes after the fans joined the protesters. The gendarmes put on their helmets and appeared prepared for a long night, surrounding the protesters with double lines, but there were no significant incidents past that point, nearly all protesters eventually clearing out by 2 AM, only a small group of mostly football fans being left.

Day seven: The day started at 4 PM, when one group organized what I saw as a particularly wasteful protest, throwing tomatoes in front of the Government building, while around the same time a few hundred cyclists started marching through the city, at one point separating in two groups that went in different directions. It should also be noted that a protest against killing stray dogs took place, from 6 PM, next to the square in front of the Bucharest National Theater, which is across the road from the fountain, which is why you see a few images from it in the video, taken when the cyclists passed by that area on their way back.
Moving on to the day’s main protest, it started at 5 PM, but few people arrived on time and hardly anything happened until a group of around 100 protesters from Barlad, whose main issue is fracking, arrived to join us. Unfortunately, while that did mark the start of the actual protest, this new group settled on one side of the area while those who were already there, as well as those who arrived later, moved on to the other and often seemed unwilling to join in the chanting and shouting, though this may have been in part caused by the fact that each group had their own chants, some not known by the other and some similar but not identical. This latter case obviously caused a fair amount of confusion when everyone would start by saying the same thing but end in two or, in case of the chants that were not grammatically correct and which some from the other group tried to pick up and fix on the spot, three different ways.
Everything finally clicked into place when the cyclists, after another change in the planned route, looped back and found the rest of us at University Square, at which point, despite a weak and uncertain attempt made by the gendarmes to hold us back, we joined them and kept on marching. For quite some time, it seemed that nobody had much of an idea where we were going, the gendarmes steering us away from turning in certain directions a couple of times but otherwise appearing content to keep us together and follow those who happened to take the lead along with the rest of us, but eventually, after a brief stop in front of the Turkish embassy to show solidarity with the protesters from there, we ended up stopping on Calea Dorobantilor, in front of TVR, which is the state-owned television station, and sat down there.
At the time we occupied the road, there were around 2000 people, but only 500 or so were left by midnight, when it was said that they’ll head back to University Square, where another small group made up of those who had arrived after we started marching was waiting. The road had cleared by 1 AM, even by 12:30 AM according to some reports, but I haven’t heard anything about anyone actually reaching University Square again, so they probably scattered along the way, thinking of the very long day that followed.

Day eight (another video, showing some of the support we received and containing interviews after the two minute mark, with English subtitles available for them): The day of the big march, starting with six smaller marches, from meeting places in each of Bucharest’s sectors and meeting in University Square. Unfortunately, these smaller marches were poorly promoted and even some of those who wanted to take part in them decided against doing so after noticing that the vast majority meant to go to the Square on their own, so for example in my sector we were about 35, despite only leaving at 4:10 PM, even though the scheduled time was 3:45 PM. Those who arrived even later seemed to have had better luck, however, as I noticed at least two groups that seemed to number around 100, if not more, and even stopped to stage some brief protests on the way.
This was followed by some two hours of protesting in the fountain area, during which people kept gathering, before moving into the street to start the march at 7 PM. By then, the entire area was packed and spilling over, meaning that there were at least 4000 people present, and our numbers continued to grow on the way, final estimates initially ranging between 8000, according to the television stations with ties to the current ruling coalition, and 20000, according to the organizers and a minor television station, before settling to around 15000 by Monday.
The march itself was long and certainly should have been exhausting, lasting three and a half hours, but the energy emanated by the crowd and the amazing support we received from so many others who honked their car horns in what’s now known as the “rhythm of the Square”, cheered us on from their apartments, displayed signs or banners in their balconies or placed them on tram or bus windows, or even rushed outside to applaud us as we walked past, made us not even feel it. Many people, myself included, were simply high on it that night, some staying that way even the next day and saying that they feel like they just got younger.
Since we arrived back at University Square at 10:30 PM, a fair number of people, myself included, peeled off right away to catch the metro, but well over 10000 people were still in the Square after midnight, though this included at least 2000 who had been waiting for us there and perhaps also some who arrived even later. The gendarmes attempted to steer everyone once again to Elisabeta boulevard, but that didn’t work and the entire intersection was blocked instead. For a while, I hear many wanted to start marching again and spend the night in front of the Government building, where some, including some of the leaders, wanted to stop even during the march, but that would have clearly served no purpose during the night, so it didn’t happen and people soon started leaving in large numbers, the area clearing by 1:30 AM, though a small number of protesters remained nearby for a while longer.
Back to the march, the organization was poor, with those who may be seen as leaders running up and down the column and still failing to get everyone to chant the same thing or even stay together, but at that point it didn’t matter much. There were various groups there, each perhaps with a different overall agenda but united at that point in time for a single goal, so other than the fact that towards the end those who held the large banners were walking too slowly and some 2000 people were constantly ahead of them and had to stop with increasing frequency to allow the rest to catch up, it simply worked out, somehow. As Liviu Mihaiu put it in an article he wrote, we were people with excellent field orientation despite being very poorly organized.
As far as incidents go, it must be said that the gendarmes and police worked almost perfectly with us and there were even several widely reported instances, one of which I witnessed personally, when some of them showed their personal support in ways that stretch the limits of what regulations would allow them to say or do. However, there was one driver who tried to make his way through the crowd before being stopped by the gendarmes and another that actually hit two people, while the one notable stain among the protesters had to do with a guy with balls of steel who marched wrapped in the flag of Israel despite the fact that some right-wing extremists were bound to be there and we’ve been struggling all along to distance ourselves from a small but vocal crowd that appears more bothered by the fact that the company behind this mining project has Jewish people among its major shareholders than by the disaster it will cause. Unfortunately, though I didn’t see it myself, it appears that he did run into those extremists at some point along the way and was beaten up by four of them without anyone daring to step in.
Still, with these few exceptions, this march truly marked a reawakening of Romanians. At the start of last year, when those protests started out of nowhere, being as much of a shock for us as for the international media, there were barely 2000 people on the streets in Bucharest and Cluj before the current ruling coalition brought people by buses or even paid them directly to make it appear that most protesters support them even if the original ones were quite clearly against both sides. Now, however, out of nowhere, we had 15000 people marching through Bucharest, up to 10000 through Cluj, a few thousand through a few other major cities, and smaller protests in dozens of other places, both around the country and abroad. This was probably the biggest protest Romania has seen since things started settling down after the Revolution, and it was done without buses, without payments, without staging concerts or offering people free food or drinks, and definitely without the support of the current political parties, as we’re clearly against all of them.

Day nine: The protests entered a new stage, the media presence was much more significant, a microphone and speakers were brought and used during the first part of the day, when we had plenty of speeches instead of just shouts and chants, and the message against fracking was much more visible, both on banners and in the speeches and chants. At the same time, people gathered slowly and there were only around 1000 at the peak, while certain disturbing elements like drunk people, agitators or those who simply wanted to be on TV were much more noticeable, requiring those who are more or less seen as leaders to step in several times.
On top of attracting those undesired elements, the increased media presence also caused all attempts to make people gather closer to fail, probably in large part due to the blinding lights placed on the cameras. As a result, Vlad, who was leading the chants at the time, moved from the clock to the fountain around 10 PM, asking everyone to gather around him there instead and turn their backs on the press, specifying that we should not refuse interviews, but otherwise just ignore the cameras and not put up a show for them.
Shortly before 11 PM, the protest was once again moved to the usual night location on Elisabeta boulevard, and it ended around 12:45 AM, people quickly scattering after a light rain started. That didn’t affect the notable moment of the night, however, which took place when a violin quartet played a few songs in the middle of the protesters, who sat down and either listened in silence or, at times, sang along. When asked, they presented themselves using the name of the campaign, stating that they have been together for some time, obviously under another name, but they don’t wish to say what it is and are honored to have been offered the chance to do their part to save Rosia Montana.

Day ten: Romania played Turkey that day, also at home and also from 9 PM, so things were expected to more or less follow the scenario noticed on Friday, the number of people around the fountain at the time once again being only around 100. However, since the match went badly, the numbers started growing earlier, at least 1000 being there by the final whistle and the gendarmes basically inviting them over to Elisabeta boulevard, where another concert of that violin quartet took place.
However, things became strange after that point, with the gendarmes also allowing trolleybuses through after the road was blocked by protesters, leading to a near miss when a driver rather charged in, which resulted in a car belonging to the gendarmes leading each trolleybus through to avoid further incidents. Two quick response squads of the gendarmerie, numbering in the hundreds, were also mobilized after a certain hour and they kept closing ranks, occasionally warning the protesters that what they’re doing is illegal and pressuring them to leave the road by taking a few more steps forward every few minutes, not being content when one side was eventually freed. In addition, several people who managed to talk with the gendarmes were told that the orders had changed and they’ll stop being so lenient over the coming days. The last 100 or so people left the road around 1:45 AM and, after some 15 more minutes on the sidewalk, went home.

Initially meant to take a break after Sunday’s big march, seeing as I have a cold and was exhausted after eight hours on my feet, but the amazing energy generated by those 15000 people and all the support we got from others who were in cars or in their apartments made me show up on Monday as well, and then there was little point in starting the break yesterday, seeing as the national team played Turkey and I wanted to do the same thing I did Friday, when we played Hungary, and only be there for an hour, coming back to see the match after that. Therefore, I made the decision to start my break today, after going there for ten days straight, and even announced it, but now the fact that I’m feeling better and the different behavior displayed by the gendarmes last night makes me want to keep going, because we definitely can’t afford to be fewer if they want to stop being nice and honoring this unofficial agreement we have had for the past week or so.
Because of that, and also considering the fact that it was 3:20 PM when I finally managed to get out of bed today, there’s no way to write a post about days six to ten of the protest itself, which was the actual plan for today, and you’re only getting this quick personal update instead. I hope I’ll somehow manage to write that post by Friday, to have it cover days six to 12, possibly by taking it one day at a time and posting when I’m done, because there clearly won’t be any way to write anything over the weekend, when the protests will once again be bigger and start earlier.

The problem is that it wasn’t simply the cold and exhaustion that made me want to take a break, but also the fact that I’ve been outside and among people far too long, and having two reporters shove microphones and cameras in my face over these ten days certainly didn’t help either. The first time it happened, it didn’t go so badly, as I at least managed to speak in complete sentences, though I most probably made a strange face and definitely couldn’t remember to say all I meant to say, but the second time I was simply stunned and could barely string two words together, my answers being all over the place and very difficult to understand. Worse, this second TV station has very strong ties with the president and the current opposition, who are even more in favor of this mining project than the current ruling coalition, so they’re actively struggling to make those who are truly against it appear to not know what they’re talking about, only being interested in covering the protests for the antigovernment angle.
Even worse, the focus now is on discussion groups and creating teams of activists to go around the city and talk to people, explaining the major problems and terrible precedents that will be created if these projects won’t be stopped and detailing the complete list of demands we had from day one, to make it clear that we need to continue despite the announcement that the law itself will be rejected by the Parliament, which is definitely not something I can do and can easily result in me ending up feeling worse for going than for not going, which is definitely what I need to avoid.

But I need to get ready to leave, so this will have to be it for now. It would have been wiser to take a break in order to ensure I’ll feel at least slightly better during the weekend, when another major march is planned, but I guess I’ll keep going, hoping that somehow I won’t end up completely drained and once again not get out of the house for several months or who knows what else.

I’ve been spending my evenings in University Square for almost a week, and that’s followed by nights spent looking for information regarding what’s going on there after I leave before going to bed to have fucked up dreams, waking up to look up information about the plans for the current day, and lately also about what’s being done to try to fight back against what they want to do about the stray dogs as well, and then get back to the Square to start over. In between this, I try to add one or two more paragraphs to my story each day as well, though they’re usually thrown there while my mind is elsewhere and I’m not even sure how many sections ago I last reread anything.
I kept thinking that I should have spent at least a night out there with the rest, but there’s the matter of getting back, since the metro doesn’t run between 11 PM and 5 AM and they tend to break up around 3 AM, or for the past two days even around 2 AM… Plus that in that case I really wouldn’t get anything done at all anymore, seeing as I’m basically not doing shit as it is and keep wondering how can some come up with new banners, take part in the planning, or in some cases even be there each night while also working during the day.

That said, and seeing as tomorrow’s protest is set to start at 5 PM and the meeting time for Sunday’s initial marches is 3 PM, I clearly won’t be having time to post anything over the weekend, so this will have to do as this week’s second post. I’ll even miss the race on Sunday, seeing as it starts at 3 PM, but this is more important and at least I watched the match today, only being in the Square to say that I was, between 7 PM and 8 PM, when only a handful of people were there and nothing happened.

What was supposed to be one protest turned into an ongoing movement, so here is a summary of what happened in Bucharest over these first five days. There have been major protests on this issue in other cities as well, the biggest on the first day being in Cluj and Iasi, while on the third day at least three cities actually had more people attend than Bucharest, but I’m focusing on what I know from here. I must also specify that I left around 10:15 PM on each day, so I only took part in the early moments of the “occupation” of a piece of road on the first two days and none of it during the rest, since the “troop movements” started later then.

Day one: With some 10000 people saying they’ll attend on Facebook, we expected the usual turnout of around 5% and were thinking we’ll be sure to get 500, but even 1000 would be lucky. However, there were probably more than that already present at the announced start time of 5 PM and two hours later, when some pushed on into the road, our numbers were around 3000. That caught the gendarmes completely unprepared as well and they were overwhelmed by our numbers, retreating to keep us into a section of the road and diverting traffic elsewhere.
After a short amount of time standing on that section of road, we started marching to the Government building, the gendarmes content to simply keep us on one side of the road as our numbers grew to probably over 4000 before reaching our destination, where we protested for a while in front of a thick line of gendarmes backed by a double line in full riot gear right in front of the fence. A couple of shots of tear gas were fired, but that only happened when a group tried to keep marching further from there, so it actually aided us in keeping everyone together until it was eventually decided to march back to University Square.
Just before returning to the fountain area there, which is the usual meeting place, a line of people simply sat down on the street and shouted for everyone to do the same, which most did within seconds. The gendarmes were again caught unprepared and quickly decided to simply allow us to sit there, only deciding to fine one person around 2:30 AM, when there were only about 200 left. That caused the rest to split, some rushing ahead to see what was going on, and offered them an opportunity to form another line that divided the group into two, leading the people to decide to leave by 3 AM.

Day two: Around 2000 people gathered at the fountain and by 9 PM, so two hours after the new start time, when another attempt to push into the street was made, gendarmes had surrounded the area with a triple line in that direction and a double one on the sidewalk, left and right. That resulted in the group of protesters moving around for about an hour, trying to find a way to break through, until eventually we were allowed to take the side roads that are behind the fountain and come back out on the other side of the intersection, on Elisabeta boulevard.
That can’t be considered any sort of victory, as the move was completely allowed by the gendarmes, but it nevertheless resulted in another night spent on the street. The last people left at 4 AM, though that apparently was only to spite the gendarmes who attempted to fine one of the 30 or so people who were left at 3 AM, as otherwise that group said they were planning to leave within at most 15 minutes at that point.

Day three: I’ll say some 1500 people gathered around the fountain, and only a part of them protested during the evening, since discussion groups were also organized and those who wanted to attend broke away from the rest to do so. This obviously marked a switch in strategy, everything becoming far more tactical, and the way in which those who were still in the area after I left broke through proved it.
While I was there, I didn’t notice any sign of people trying to break through the thick lines of gendarmes, but shortly after I left it appears that hundreds of protesters broke up in small groups and left in various directions, as if they were going home, only to regroup within minutes behind the gendarmes, on the street, and offer those who were left around the fountain the opportunity to join them in the momentary confusion, resulting in another march.
The gendarmes attempted to stop the march at various points, but the protesters broke up in groups repeatedly and used side roads or narrow passages until they were finally stopped for good in Revolution Square, where they spent the night until around 3 AM. The gendarmes initially tried to push through, for the first time issuing a warning and having a van try to enter the occupied area, but after one man stood in front of it and another set himself down right in front of its wheels, they gave up and were content to simply keep the protesters from pushing on further during the night.

Day four: People were slow to gather this time, perhaps not even 100 being present around the fountain at 7 PM and the number growing by about 300 per hour until around 10:20 PM, when the call was made to try to march again, after the discussion groups had finished for the night. Some, myself included, went in the opposite direction and were allowed to leave at that time by the gendarmes, but the remaining roughly 1000 people were blocked as they tried first one and then the other side road, being forced to return to the fountain area.
Once back there, the protesters tried to simply overpower the gendarmes, a small number of more violent individuals causing some incidents and one person even throwing a bottle. The gendarmes gave warnings that they will respond in force and a small quantity of pepper spray was used, but people nevertheless managed to occupy a small part of the street and sat down, the situation remaining largely calm until 11:20 PM, when at least 1000 others suddenly flooded in behind the gendarmes and occupied the same section of Elisabeta boulevard we had been allowed to occupy on day two, forcing their lines to break in order to deal with the new issue.
After that, most protesters gathered on Elisabeta, even more people coming in even later, so at one point there were close to 3000 people on the street and some attempts to once again occupy the section of road right in front of the fountain were made. Those were taken care of by the gendarmes relatively quickly and without any violence, however, and the night ended earlier than before, nearly everyone leaving by 2:15 AM.

Day five: On top of the usual protest around the fountain, where perhaps around 1000 people gathered, another group apparently independently decided to gather in front of the Palace Hall, where some of the classical music concerts that make up the George Enescu Festival take place. This second group was initially very small, but eventually grew to over 100 people and started marching back towards University Square, blocking the road completely unopposed, though when two gendarmes caught up with them and kindly asked them to at least leave one lane free they agreed to do so.
Once this smaller group reached University Square, they walked through an area set aside for another small festival that takes place there, then marched through the Old Town and split into smaller groups that sort of played tag with the gendarmes, offering the diversion needed for the ones from the fountain area to break through and once again occupy that section of Elisabeta boulevard, despite the gendarmes attempting to stop them from doing so this time around.
Once the gendarmes backed away, the situation seemed to have calmed down for a while, but eventually a call was made pointing out that this area is as much of a “pen” as the one around the fountain, being a place where the gendarmes willingly allow the protesters to gather, so they tried to break through again, perhaps around 50 people managing to make it out as the gendarmes once again used some pepper spray.
This small group marched on unopposed to Constitution Square, in front of the Parliament building, where perhaps a few hundred others joined them later, as the gendarmes seemed to not even bother with them. Calls were made for those occupying Elisabeta boulevard to leave in small groups and join them as well, but many didn’t listen, seeing as Constitution Square is a “dead” zone when it comes to protests, so two areas were occupied by significantly smaller groups than on previous nights, and everything seems to have ended around 2 AM, though I heard that a small number of people stayed in Constitution Square until later, protesting in the middle of a large empty space surrounded by huge empty buildings.

Otherwise, a sustained and largely successful effort is being made to maintain focus on the Rosia Montana issue despite all attempts made by the authorities to dilute the message and create diversions, and current plans call for the protests to continue as long as necessary. The next major step will be this Sunday, a week after the first protest, and in Bucharest it will take the form of multiple marches, one starting from each of the city’s six sectors, meeting at the statues in University Square, then going to the fountain and moving on from there together, assuming we will manage to do so.