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Demonstration by Gypsies. 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.
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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.
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.
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.
Demonstration (continued) • 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.