Q- 1 Demonstration by Gypsies

Q- 2 Demonstration Top officials of the World Bank, EU, IMF, and ERDB are attending a 3-day meeting in Bucharest to complete arrangements for a series of developmental loans. On the opening morning, three hundred Rom appear at the main entrance to the meeting hall. –Two dozen of them lie down on the street, preventing vehicles from delivering visiting officials to the VIP entrance. –Other protestors handcuff themselves to an iron fence near the entrance way. –Protestors carry posters demanding “Human Rights and Equality.” –Their overall demands are unclear at this point.

Q- 3 Demonstration (continued) The large press contingent covering the conference shifted their attention from the conference to the protestors. Police removed the protestors from the area peacefully. –One protestor who spat in a policeman’s face was beaten. –The press photographed the incident, which was shown later in the day on international news. A spokesman for the demonstrators promised to return with “hundreds” for the rest of the conference.

Q- 4 Demonstration (continued) The visiting officials have taken the position privately that handling the demonstration is an internal matter. –They advised the economic minister that it would be best if matters did not get out of hand or engender bad publicity. A police source of “uncertain reliability” reports that the demonstrators plan to throw buckets of sheep's blood on the limousines of the visitors as they drive up to tomorrow’s meeting site. A journalist who interviewed the demonstrators told security officials that the demonstrators believe they have made their point and will not reappear tomorrow morning.

Q- 5 Six demonstrators in the late afternoon entered the Belgian consulate offices and chained themselves to radiators and demanded asylum in Belgium, claiming political persecution. –The head of the IMF delegation happens to be a Belgian. The PM’s office is calling a strategy meeting for tonight. Demonstration (continued)