A small riot took place in
Ferentari–Zăbrăuți area of
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
on the evening of November 14, 2006. Ferentari is Bucharest's poorest district, with a bad reputation with respect to crime.
Events preceding the riot
The riot took place after four
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
children were asphyxiated in the basement of an apartment block in the Zăbrăuți area on November 13,
as a result of a fire caused by candles. The children had lived with their mother in their dwelling for more than two years, and were obliged to light the basement with candles as they had no access to electricity.
According to the administrator of the apartment block, none of the building's inhabitants had formal access to electricity for four years, with many people connecting themselves illegally to the electricity grid.
The riot
The riot occurred because
Electrica
Electrica is a private company, listed on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges. Electrica is the only listed Romanian company in the field of electricity distribution and supply in Romania. Electrica Group is a key player in the electricity di ...
, the electricity provider company, decided to cut the electricity of some blocks, due to energy theft and consumer debts. However, power outages occurred for several blocks, including few consumers without debts. In most flats there was no central heating and people were using electric radiators (which are costly to operate). There were also some apartments with
air conditioners
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
, so the total debts (not including the stolen energy) rose to €400,000.
[Gardianu]
Violența este o metodă de negociere mai eficientă decât diplomația"
The stolen energy was estimated to €430,000 per month.
Dzeno.cz
According to the protesters, the local council of
Sector 5 (Bucharest), Sector 5 had repeatedly refused to authorize their re-connection to the grid. This led to around 200 inhabitants from the Zăbrăuți area to violently protest against their situation, by torching tires, blocking traffic in the area and breaking the window of a
fire truck
A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...
, while calling for the electricity supply to be restored. However, only 20% of the inhabitants of the area had any papers proving ownership or rent over the said flats, with the rest being squatters.
The electricity provider was criticized for not cutting the energy in summer, so that people could make plans for winter.
Both the electricity provider and Bucharest 5th Sector Mayor,
Marian Vanghelie
Daniel Marian Vanghelie (born 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian politician, the former mayor of the 5th Sector of Bucharest (2000–2016) and a former member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD). He ran for a fifth term in 2016 ...
, were criticized by then-
Prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
of Bucharest
Mioara Mantale
Mioara Mantale (born October 3, 1967) is a Romanian politician and the subprefect of Bucharest Municipality. A member of the Democratic Party (PD) and its successor the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), she is the first-ever female prefect of Bu ...
for concluding electricity supply contracts for those blocks, as they were built as temporary shelter for construction workers, and were never finalized. Apart from electricity, they do not have a fresh water supply, sewage, or heating.
Vanghelie said he would not make any concessions.
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Traian Băsescu
Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...
also commented on the events: "I stand by my previous statement. Bucharest is not for everyone. Every one of us must pay
ur bills" ( ro, Îmi mențin ideea pe care am mai spus-o. Bucureștiul nu este un oraș în care poate locui oricine. Toți trebuie să plătim!).
Outcome
Realitatea TV was presenting a news broadcast about the riot at the same time with the planned show about the latest ranking of the richest Romanians made by the publication "Capital", at which Cristian Țânțăreanu and
Gigi Becali
George "Gigi" Becali (; born 25 June 1958) is a Romanian businessman and former politician, mostly known for his ownership of the FCSB football club.
Becali was a Member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and December 2012, and a Memb ...
were invited to speak about their wealth. Cristian Țânțăreanu said the ranking contained the 300 richest Romanians and there were about 300 people protesting, so why shouldn't every one of them help one of the poor people who were protesting. Gigi Becali said he would donate enough money to help all the protesting people, but he doesn't have time to make sure that the respective people would also go to work (clean their buildings, etc.), as Țânțăreanu suggested. At that time Becali didn't know how much money this would cost him; he was later informed it was about €400,000, which he paid.
Becali was criticized for this, as it might be unfair for the ones who only through effort managed to pay the energy bills. Alex Savitescu, said "crime becomes not only understood, accepted, but rewarded".
According to a poll made by students from SNSPA (The National School for Political and Administrative Studies) two days after the protests, if elections were to be held the following Sunday, 93% of people from Zăbrăuți would go to vote and 70% would vote for Gigi Becali as President, and 55.1% would vote for his party, the
New Generation Party – Christian Democratic (PNG).
[Adevarul]
Ferentarii îl lasă pe Vanghelie pentru Becali
At the meeting where people were thanking him, he said
Pe mine mă cheamă Becali. Cuvântul meu e literă de Evanghelie. Nu o să pot să fac toată țara asta, o să fac toată țara asta când o să devin președinte și o să mă doară inima de români
Ziarul de Iași: Becali le-a promis locuitorilor de Ferentari 400.000 de euro (My name is Becali. My word is as good as the word of the Holy Scripture. I cannot do the same for everyone in this country now but I will do so when I become president and as president I'll feel the grief of the Romanian people).
See also
*
Ferentari
Ferentari is a neighbourhood located in the 5th Sector of Bucharest, Romania.
Etymology
The word "Ferentari" comes from the Latin word "Ferentarius" meaning "soldier in the old pedestrian army".
Area
It is located in the South-South-West of B ...
*
Romani people in Romania
Romani people (Roma; Romi, traditionally '' Țigani'', (often called "Gypsies" though this term is considered a slur) constitute one of Romania's largest minorities. According to the 2011 census, their number was 621.573 people or 3.3% of the ...
*
1993 Hădăreni riots
The 1993 Hădăreni riots were a series of riots in the village of Hădăreni, Mureș County, Romania, involving Romanians and Hungarians on the one side against Roma on the other side, ending with three (or four, according to some sources) Roma b ...
References
External links
Protests in Ferentari neighbourhoodResidents clash with police in poor Bucharest district after electricity cut off Dzeno
Revolt of Roma in Bucharest Dzeno
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferentari Riot
Antiziganism in Romania
Romani-related controversies
2006 riots
2006 in Romania
Riots and civil disorder in Romania