Bucharest: Thousands protest decriminalising corruption
February 1, 2017
Hundreds of thousands decry measures that decriminalise graft offences as judicial watchdog announces court challenge.
A Romanian girl holds a placard reading ‘No Pardon’ while marching in Bucharest [EPA]
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Romanian capital to protest against an emergency government decree decriminalising a string of corruption offences.
Protesters on Wednesday evening in Bucharest shouted “Rats” and carried banners that read “The morning shift”, sending a message that the protests will continue until the government resigns.
The marches against the government’s move followed similar protests a day earlier.
At least 130,000 people marched in Bucharest, while more took to the streets elsewhere in the country, including Timisoara, Cluj, Iasi and Sibiu.
Romania’s top judicial watchdog announced a court challenge on Wednesday against the government decree decriminalising a number of corruption offences in what critics say is the biggest retreat on reforms since the country joined the European Union a decade ago.
The decree, unveiled by the Social Democrat-led government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu after it took power earlier this month, has drawn sharp criticism and triggered the biggest street protests since the fall of communism in Romania in 1989.
If enforced, the decree would, among other things, decriminalise abuse-of-power offences in which the sums involved were less than 200,000 lei ($48,000).
