The Fork in the Road

[Nentsia]

The central squares in various cities across the country had filled themselves with demonstrators. A week ago, Vice-President Zmitser Gavrilenko and his wife had been killed in a car bomb. While the police were still investigating the matter, and the government strongly condemned it as an act of terrorism, President Vynnychuk appointed his daughter Ksenia as the replacement to the position of vice-president. To many young Nentsians, it was a rehearsal of the events more than a decade ago, when the president also appointed his daughter to powerful positions in government. They saw it as a symbol of the nepotism and corruption within the system.

But now there was something different. The masses in the streets were bigger, the people who were demonstrating were of varied backgrounds. The anger was bigger. The mobilization went faster and more spontaneous. All these people interpreted Ksenia's appointment as a sign of something bigger: President Vynnychuk had chosen her as his successor. The people in the streets wanted to prevent that. For long they had accepted the corruption, they even accepted Vynnychuk's abuse of power - because they received political and economic stability in return. But to allow him to simply appoint his daughter as the future president, that went too far. It was an act of contempt towards the Nentsian people, and their right to elect their own president. Ksenia had not proven why she should be in power. Even the older generations of Nentsians, who had always voted for president Vynnychuk, agreed that there should be open elections to decide upon his successor. Some demonstrators therefore brought signs that read ''Down with the King!''

The demonstrations were so large, and so unexpected, that the police and security troops were caught by surprise. They could not prevent the masses from occupying the city squares and show their discontent. The media however, pretended as if nothing was going on and even showed false footage of quiet cities and empty squares. Even in Mordvania, home to many Nentsian immigrants and exiled dissidents, people showed up to protest before the Nentsian embassy and consulates. In Sierada more than a 100,000 demonstrators took the streets and even threatened to occupy the city hall. In Yagaila, home to many marginalized religious groups, 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets and besieged government buildings. Professional activist groups and members of the underground resistance had taken the lead over events there, following the news of civil unrest in Sierada. The protests in Yagaila and Sierada were more militant, fuelled by decades of cropped up resentment and frustration over the political course of Vynnychuk. Vynnychuk never enjoyed any support in these cities. Poltsebsk, Kolodinsk, and Mstsislavsk - the age-old strongholds of Vynnychuk - saw significant demonstrations as well however. In Kolodinsk some 50,000 people demonstrated, in Poltsebsk the Communist Party mobilized some 30,000 demonstrators. But in Mstsislavsk, the capital, between 250,000 and 300,000 people took to the streets.

Ksenia Vynnychuk was with her husband, Svyataslau Kalejko, having dinner at their private residence just outside the capital when a personal bodyguard disturbed them to inform them of the unrest spreading in the country. Initially, Svyataslau harshly dismissed the guard. ''Get out of here and leave us. We are having dinner! I'm sure the police will restore order.''

But after dinner, as Ksenia, Svyataslau, and their son, Hrihory, were playing a boardgame, a more troubling message reached Ksenia. ''The numbers are too big, we cannot mobilize the required amount of troops to ensure security, says the security minister'', a bodyguard informed her. A couple of hours later, Ksenia received a phonecall from the Office of the President. ''The President has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council. You are expected to attend within thirty minutes.'' A heavily armed escort provided by the UGB then took Ksenia and her own staff to the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Normally such meetings would take place in the presidential palace, but it was too dangerous that the demonstrators might get wind of it - which they might see as a sign of weakness.

President Vynnychuk chaired the meeting officially, but the head of the UGB - Piotr Hrycuk - did all the talking as he informed the President, the Vice-President, the minister of Internal Affairs, minister of Defence, the joint chiefs of staff of the military, the police chief, and the minister of Justice of the recent developments. ''I believe the current situation will quickly spin out of control when the extremists among the demonstrators begin the notice that at this moment we do cannot mobilize the police force that is required to keep the situation under control. The moment they smell weakness, they shall hijack the unlawful demonstrations with the purpose of causing violence. Their goal is to force us to adopt repressive measures, which, due to lack of police numbers, will become a long and messy confrontation in our inner cities and will damage the reputation of the government in the eyes of neutral observers and international observers. It is of utmost importance that we quickly show strength towards the radicals.''

''How can we do that if we lack police capacities at the moment?'', the minister of Internal Affairs asked. Piotr Hrycuk then turned his head and looked at the minister of defence. ''Send in the armoured divisions of the nearby military bases. With the use of armoured personnel carriers, to back up the police and the troops of the Internal Affairs ministry, we can clearly show the extremist agents among the crowds that we have all means ready to quickly break up their subversive actions.''

The president coughed and interrupted. ''I think the images of military vehicles in the streets will just as much damage our reputation both abroad and here. Calling in the military is also a sign of weakness.''

''But the media have no permission to film them...'' said the Justice minister.
''Everyone carries a camera in this day and age...'' Ksenia remarked cynically. ''What if we withdraw? We pretend to tolerate these disturbances. Let the people express their anger, however misguided, and then they'll go home eventually. We'll find out who the ringleaders are sooner or later.''

Piotr Hrycuk was vehemently opposed to that. ''With all due respect, Vice-President, that will be interpreted by the extremists as a green light to begin a riot. They want a confrontation. It depends on our show of force whether they will attempt it or not.''

''What if instead of using armoured vehicles, we try to intimidate the crowds with helicopters and jets flying over from the air force? They're hard to film with a telephone at night, but they'll send an even stronger message of how serious we are...'' an air force general suggested.

After some more bickering, the president leaned forward again - with all his energy - and cut the gordian knot. ''The police has to keep its distance as much as possible, especially in Sierada and yagaila. Monitor to the crowds from the sky with military choppers, and fly over the squares a few times with a couple of jets. Then we wait and see what happens.''

Everyone was dismissed, and headed to their respective ministries and headquarters to coordinate the latest instructions. Vynnychuk, before vanishing again, briefly spoke to Ksenia in a corner. ''Pay good attention. You must realize we are at war. We have been for years. A cold war, but a war nevertheless. Never underestimate the number of enemies that we are facing, and their determination to bring down the government and wreck the country. And their determination to cut our heads off. A father must sometimes be cruel in order to protect his children.''