Romanian mass protests enter fifth day

Romania's biggest protests since communism were set for a fifth day today with hundreds of thousands expected to demonstrate against what they see as a government retreat on corruption.

Demonstrators planned to gather in central Bucharest in the afternoon and march noisily with whistles, drums and vuvuzela horns in the national colours to parliament and form a human chain.

Yesterday night an estimated 250,000 people demonstrated nationwide calling for the government to repeal decrees decriminalising certain graft offences and freeing corrupt officials from prison.

The scale of the protests came close to Wednesday night, the biggest since 1989 when people power toppled communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. He and his wife were executed on Christmas Day.
 

"The government wants to legalise white collar crime, which is really insidious," Sergiu, 43, a bank employee venting his anger at Bucharest's Victory Square, the epicentre of the protests.

Yesterday's protest in the capital, which drew around 100,000 people, saw effigies of the government officials in prison fatigues paraded through the crowds to jeers and shouts of "Thieves!".

Protesters acted as pallbearers for a coffin bearing the inscription "Romanian justice" carried through the crowd while others gave a rousing rendition of the national anthem.

"I am not a leftist, I am not rightist. My views are centre-right. But I want respect," said Armand, 34, an economist taking part.

The left-wing Social Democrats (PSD) have only just returned to power after handsomely winning elections on December 11 promising to boost salaries and pensions in the EU's second-poorest country.

This was barely a year after protests over a nightclub blaze, blamed on corrupt officials turning a blind eye to fire regulations, killed 64 people and drove the PSD-led government from office.

Now the PSD wants to reduce sentences for abuse of power and make them punishable by prison only if sums involved exceed 44,000 euros (USD 47,500). A separate bill would free some 2,500 prisoners on short sentences.

The government says it is bringing legislation into line with the constitution and wants to reduce overcrowding in prisons, and has remained defiant despite the protests.