February 2 (SeeNews) - Romania's prime minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Thursday the government will keep in place its decree that eases or scraps penalties for corruption offences and plans no street rallies in response to the biggest protests in the country since the fall of communism in 1989.
"We made a decision two days ago and we will go ahead," Grindeanu said at a joint news conference with ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea.
A record 300,000 people gathered on Wednesday night in Bucharest and other Romanian cities to protest against the government's attempt to weaken the fight against corruption and help corrupt politicians avoid criminal prosecution. Protests in Piata Victoriei square in Bucharest were peaceful until 21.00 CET, when a group of football fans attacked riot police, forcing them to use tear gas.
As a result of the clashes, three football fans and two police officers were taken to hospital, the interior ministry said. Some of the peaceful protesters who were affected by teargas also needed medical care.
Liviu Dragnea said that the party and the government are the target of a manipulation and disinformation campaign that has made Romanians get out to the streets. Unlike president Klaus Iohannis, who slammed the way the interior ministry handled the violence at the protests, Dragnea praised the authorities.
"I understand that the interior ministry and riot police were criticized by the president, who is the moral author of last night's violence. I encourage them not to be intimidated by president Iohannis attacks," Dragnea said.
PSD summoned all of its regional leaders to Bucharest on Thursday to discuss the heightened tensions in the country and decide whether the party will organize counter protests.
"I am not going to encourage colleagues to hold a rally. I am not going to take out a million people in the street because this would mean starting a battle between Romanians and I do not accept it. I did ask my colleagues to start collecting signatures on the matter, hoping that last night's violence will not recur in the coming days," Dragnea added.
Protests were ongoing in Bucharest and other Romanian cities on Thursday at 17:30 CET.
The emergency decree, approved by the government at 21.00 CET on Tuesday and hastily published in the country's Official Gazette, decriminalises several offences and makes abuse of office punishable by jail terms only if that offence has resulted in a loss of more than 200,000 lei ($47,500/44,000 euro).
Dragnea himself can potentially benefit from the new decree as he is currently on trial on charges of abuse of office that has led to a loss of 108,000 lei to the state. He also has a two-year suspended jail sentence for a referendum fraud in 2012, which prevented him from becoming prime minister.
Also, the government decided to send to parliament a draft pardon bill which, if adopted, will set free prison inmates serving sentences of up to five years for non-violent crimes including corruption. The government initially intended to grant the pardon by way of emergency decree.
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