A national tragedy

Colectiv Club, the place of the biggest tragedy that Bucharest has seen in the past decades, has turned into a shrine.

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Roxana Vasile, 02.11.2015, 13:38

Romania is in shock after Friday’s tragedy, when hundreds of young people, who had come to see a show by the band ‘Goodbye to Gravity’ at the ‘Colectiv’ Club in Bucharest, were the victims of a fire started by fireworks. To most of us, words are useless. That is why, on Sunday, over ten thousand people participated in a silent march, in memory of the dozens of young people killed and in solidarity with the hundreds that are still in hospital, many of them in critical condition.

At first, following a call posted on Facebook, some one thousand people gathered in the emblematic University Square, in downtown Bucharest, but their number grew significantly until they reached the place of the terrible tragedy. Romanians of all ages, most of them dressed in black, marched in a silence that was more shaking than any cry of pain or revolt. Those heading the parade were holding a huge flag, with the mourning sign on it, and reading ‘Heroes will never die’.

“It’s true that the tragic event impressed everybody. This is not something that one can comment on, at least I cannot. I’ve just seen somebody at the chapel, somebody I knew. May God have mercy on their souls! What can I say, it’s truly shocking!”

“It could’ve been me, It could’ve been anybody. I hope everything will be done as it should and they will not try to sweep it under the rug. The people responsible must pay for what happened.”

At the place of the tragedy, which had turned into an open-air shrine, another two thousand people had already gathered, bringing flowers and lit candles. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis, Princess Margareta of Romania, the US and French Ambassadors to Bucharest, Hans Klemm and Francois Saint-Paul respectively, as well as public figures, went to the place and took a moment of silence. Lit candles and flowers have been laid in other towns and cities across Romania.

In Bucharest, people’s spontaneous solidarity, right after the inferno at the club, has been impressive. The entire medical staff has been exemplary. They have been helped by medical students and also by specialists coming from Israel and France. The number of blood donors has tripled, one of them being the Israeli ambassador to Bucharest, Mrs. Tamar Samash. Volunteer teams have been busy bringing food and water to both the victims and the medical staff. Several store chains have provided various products, and travel companies have offered free plane or bus tickets for the victims’ relatives. The Psychologists’ Association has provided free counseling for families, and a lawyers’ association has announced its availability to help, free of charge, any legal action that the relatives may want to start.

Many foreign officials and heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Bucharest have conveyed messages of condolences to the grieving families and to the Romanian people.