Romanian carol singers deviated from their usual routine by singing songs in praise of Russian President Vladmir Putin and an anti-Western politician who ran for president in Romania, rather than their usual repertoire.
The “Bears of the Rotunda” carol singers who were invited to sing at a Christmas festival in northern Romania transformed the Christmas spirit into a political spectacle, even calling for violence. “Get the axes ready, get the pitchforks ready,” one performer said on stage, expressing support for Calin Georgescu, the Romanian politican who won the first round of presidential elections due to Russian interference according to declassified Romanian intelligence reports.
“We are forced to make a revolution!” the performer said at Dec. 27 performance and began to praise Vladimir Putin before organizers interrupted the show, News.ro reported. He also went on a homophobic rant.
The Constitutional Court canceled the presidential runoff saying the electoral process had been flawed. Romania will hold new elections on March 23.
Romania’s Western partners have supported the annulment but there has been criticism about such a drastic measure and questions about the extent of Russian interference much of which reportedly came through massive manipulation of TikTok accounts.
“Come, brothers, home, because we have a beautiful country…prepare the axes, prepare the pitchforks as well. We are forced to make a revolution! The Constitution was violated by a gentleman in a suit and tie who swore allegiance to death. He canceled the second round. He was scared of Călin Georgescu. He was so scared that they stole many millions (of votes). And they are also looking for a loophole to escape from the fate of Ceausescu, brother,” one of the “Bears of the Rotunda” troupe said.
He continued by praising Vladimir Putin and by making references to Klaus Iohannis and Diana Şoşoacă: “I would tell you about the war, but I’m afraid of you/ Mr. Putin loves us, he hits Ukraine/ With bombs and sticks, to not to scare them with hunger/ But the bandit Zelensky, came to Romania, talked to (President Klaus) Iohannis/ And he set up the country with American tanks and defense drones/ And they have demands, brothers, to go forward/With the diaspora-together to be a crazy force/ That Iohannis, being German, is a bit tired of us and puts us in the war/But since we don’t know anything…?We are waiting, my brothers, for a great miracle at Easter.”
An organizer interrupted the impromptu performance: “We thank the Bears of the Rotunda for the beautiful moments presented to the people of Suceava this evening…We are waiting for you next year to come to us to step on our threshold with the same joys”.
The perfornace also included homophobic chants about „men in little skirts” who want to be “parent one and parent two.”
The interruption irritated the troupe who claimed they’d been censored.
“He turned off our microphone, what can I do, we don’t have anything to hate anymore! Well, let me hurry, I’ve been here since noon! Noise, make noise!”, said the leader of the band.
“The organizer pinched my leg… How can such a thing happen? These traditions are from our ancestors: we peasants from the countryside cannot express ourselves otherwise, we have no power, we are not celebrities!”
The local Suceava County Council boss said the troupe had been hired “to create a beautiful moment of greetings.”
“What happened on stage was a political manifesto. It’s clear that when people started to make statements that love Putin. It’s regrettable. They were right to cut off his microphone, because we don’t know where such things lead,” said Gheorghe Soldan, president of the Suceava County Council, according to Digi24.
Leader of the nationalist AUR party, George Simion, shared a video of the event and claimed the troupe was censored
“Censored for telling the truth,” Mr. Simion wrote on Facebook.
