Quarter Million Romanians Take to Streets in Protest of Pro-Corruption Decree


In the biggest show of political unrest since the overthrow of the country’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, over a quarter million Romanians took to the streets of Bucharest to make clear their anger at the gross corruption of their government. Among numerous grievances named by the protesters was the release of many politicians arrested for corruption from prison and the fact that bribery is okay as long as payment does not exceed 45,000 euros:

“The grassroots protest started with roughly 12,000 Romanian protesters taking to the streets outside the government building in the capital on Tuesday, and climbed daily to well over 250,000 by Friday.

Romania’s leftist Social Democrat Party (PSD) issued the emergency decree which decriminalized cases of corruption involving less than 45k euros. The PSD won the election of 2016 and the measure was one of the PSD’s first executive orders put in place since taking over power in November. To put things into perspective, consider this headline from the Economist describing the PSD’s rise to power, “Conviction politics: Romania elects a party led by a vote rigger.” Not only was the party’s leader already a convicted election defrauder, but he now reportedly wants to be the country’s new leader. Sound familiar?

Following the election, the PSD reportedly wanted then to install their leader, Liviu Dragnea, as the prime minister of Romania. However, the party was unable to do so because Dragnea was serving a two-year suspended sentence for election fraud, although he denied any wrongdoing. The suspended sentence originally barred Dragnea from ever serving as the prime minister. But with the government’s new emergency decree decriminalizing political corruption in cases involving less than 45k euros, it’s now conceivable Dragnea will be named prime minister.

Dragnea has reportedly been keeping a low profile since the measure was decreed. But Romanians are no longer following blindly their leaders nor their governments, and have taken to the streets to express their outrage that political corruption could be decriminalized in their homeland, and could lead to a politician convicted of election fraud being named as the country’s next prime minister.”

Source: The Free Thought Project



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