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Romanians stone police as anti-government anger grows
Published: 21 January, 2012, 11:27
TAGS: Conflict, EU, Protest, Politics, Europe, Corruption, Marina Dzhashi, Tom Barton, Opposition
Romania is in the grip of its worst protests in over a decade. For the second week running, amid outbreaks of violence, demonstrators have taken a stand against a government they say has brought in low wages, cuts and rising corruption.
At least 7,000 people took to the streets of Bucharest on Thursday to demand the resignation of the country’s government and its president, Traian Basescu.
The protests that have been raging since last Sunday have already left at least 60 people injured. On Thursday alone, about 100 people were questioned by the police on suspicion of throwing stones and using iron fences to attack police lines.
RT’s correspondent Tom Barton, who is currently in Bucharest, witnessed fighting that broke out between police and protesters on Thursday.
Reporting from the middle of the rallying crowd, he saw protesters throwing bottles and fences at the police. “This is the violence everyone hoped they could avoid today but it has broken out after all,” he said.
Earlier in the day, thousands poured into the Romanian capital to demand the resignation of the Romanian president. In an address to the crowd, opposition politicians called for the government to quit.
“Some people are upset because they have lost their jobs, others because their pension was cut and others because they are being humiliated every day. But there is one thing that unites us all: that we all want Basescu to leave!” Viktor Ponta of Romania’s Social Democratic Party told the protestors.
“You have come from all over the country. That means that this riot has begun and it must not stop until we reach what we want, what we need,” said Mircea Diaconu from the opposition National Liberal Party.
As the rally continued, police advanced on the crowd using tear gas, and the mood of the protesters grew more militant.
“The youth nowadays, what choice do we have? To go out and start to steal, to start mugging people for a purse?” young demonstrator told RT. “Shall we go to Italy, Spain and Germany to start to steal? What for? We want jobs!”
As the crowd broke up, the effects of the tear gas and the scale of the arrests became apparent.
Protesters have been on the streets day and night to demand far-reaching political change in Romania. However, with violent clashes on the rise, the road to reform looks set to be long and hard-fought.
21.01, 11:05
29 comments
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@Aether There is a point were I reject T.B.'s opinions categorically: his absolutely demagogic approach of the environmental question, regarding the eventuality of attacking, by mining there, the site of the gold-resources in the Western Carpathians,"in spe" that Roshyia Montana upper transilvanian mining-site! Rather those romanians will become beggars, Goodness forbid!, than permitting the undeniable crime of, for ever-ever!, destroying those mountains and impeding any future for the nephews, the grand-children of those who nowadays claim their & their youngsters' right to work by gold-mining by known as failure-coursed and doomed detrimental gold-mining technologies! Better the romanians should sell the site, even the mountains, than to charge their conscience or than to stain their hands with a such a terrible environmental crime, if only they seek money immediately helping themselves to have their youngsters work in Romania, instead of abroad, as they say.
It is there, in the upper Carpathians, THE very serious ecological disaster that has to be prevented, by all means, inclusively by forcing the resignation of the obviously demagogic president T.B., an ecologically-unupdated romanian president, I wonder if there is one that should be ecologically-updated ever, here!!
@Aether -No doubt that there is not T.B. that person who is the providential saviour of the romanian nation, nor is he another "carpathian genius", nor his demo-liberals party can be religiously cultivated as the providential political version of the nowadays democracy here, no doubt that the actual crisis cannot be assumed by only a few political components of the whole responsible society, on the contrary, as you rightly are telling your opinion, the power has to be evenly dispersed between all those democratically participants, no more need for sacrificed or ignored values, of useful and benign political soft-forces in this society; the traces of the past are here, no doubt, the civil free voices of the people have to be loudly and clearly heared in that AGORA "in nuce", downtown. All the best to you, many thanks for your kind good wishes and the same to you all!
The Roshyia Montana's "dilemma" is only a very demagogic question, actually it is crystal-clear that the Romanian president, T.B., but also a lot of those advocating the same tremendously deleterious and demagogic opinion of him, especially on this hot environmental topic, is/are far from being branched to the our-days understanding of things, for the best of the interest of the Romanian people, nor is he, T.B., a clear-sighted politician in the long perspective of the European goal of stable-development, nor is he & his friends clear-sighted in an attempt to manage the imperative larger, mankind perspective of saving the Mother-Planet from ecologically destroying it, no matter were and when, if he/they is/are or not able or wishing to manage such large, mankind's, planetary perspective at all, out of their national short-sighted egoistic point of view!