Romania crisis deepens as anti-corruption protest enters fourth day
Emergency government decree to decriminalise official misconduct ‘not constitutional’, say key government allies. Protesters hold effigies depicting members of Romania’s leftist Social Democrat party (PSD) dressed as prisoners during the fourth night of demonstrations.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Bucharest and other Romanian cities on Friday, blowing whistles, waving giant national flags and booing at giant puppets of politicians they hold responsible for a decree to dilute the country’s anti-corruption fight.
People of all ages, some carrying children, took part in protests around the country for the fourth consecutive evening. The atmosphere was one of anger against the government, but also of solidarity and hope for change. Some carried banners saying: “I came for my future.”
The demonstration came amid a deepening political crisis after two key government allies said on Friday that the emergency government decree passed early on Wednesday without input from parliament was not constitutional. The influential Romanian Orthodox church criticised the measure, which some say will allow corrupt politicians to escape punishment.
Late on Friday, the general prosecutor Augustin Lazar asked the Bucharest court of appeal to suspend and cancel the government decree “in an emergency regime” before it formally becomes law on 9 February.
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