Thousands rally in Bucharest on anniversary of violent protest
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Tens of thousands of protesters rallied peacefully against Romania’s Social Democrat government in the capital, Bucharest, on Saturday on the one-year anniversary of a violent protest where riot police launched a heavy crackdown.
The protest was organised and promoted by groups of Romanians working abroad, angry at what they say is entrenched corruption, weak public administration and attempts by the ruling coalition to weaken the judiciary in one of the European Union’s most corrupt states.
The recent murder of a 15-year-old girl in southern Romania who was found 19 hours after she called emergency number 112 three times has further incensed protesters over authorities’ slow response times.
Romanian protesters wave their lit-up mobile phones during a protest of expatriates against the leftist government, held in front of the government headquarters, in Bucharest, Romania, 10 August 2019. Thousands of Romanians living or working abroad returned to Romania’s capital to protest against government policies, against the way European Parliament elections were organized for Romanians living abroad, being discontent on how Romania is being governed by the Social Democrats. Also, protesters commemorate the riot-police intervention at a similar protest last year, when hundreds of protesters were injured during an anti-corruption protest on 10 August 2018, due to the disproportionate police intervention. EPA-EFE/BOGDAN CRISTEL
More than 20,000 people both from the diaspora and from within Romania rallied outside government headquarters in scorching temperatures, waving Romanian and European Union flags and demanding the Cabinet’s resignation.
A Romanian young protester, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask on his back, holds his head in his hands as another one waves the national flag during a protest of expatriates against the leftist government, held in front of the government headquarters, in Bucharest, Romania.
