December 11 (SeeNews) - Thousands of people again rallied on Sunday night in Bucharest and other Romanian cities to oppose controversial tax changes and waht they see as attempts to weaken the fight against corruption.
Some 10,000 people protested at Piata Victoriei, in front of the government headquarters in Bucharest, against an emergency decree introducing changes to the fiscal code that was issued by the government at the beginning of November, as well as against plans of the Social Democrat-led government coalition to appoint Romania's chief prosecutor without the consent of the president.
In the opinion of the protesters, the change in legislation now before parliament will limit the powers of the country's anti-corruption directorate, the DNA, and will shield senior public figures from justice.
Some 5,000 people gathered in protest rallies in other cities across the country such as Cluj and Iasi, local media reported.
Sunday's protests were peaceful all over the country.
This was the sixth straight Sunday of protests in Romania.
On November 8, Romania's governing coalition comprising PSD and centre-right Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) approved an emergency decree to change the country's fiscal code that shifts responsibility for social security payments from the employer to the employees while income tax will drop from 16% to 10%.
In the view of employees, the changes will not increase the net salaries of emploees, as the government argues, and will only complicate their fiscal position. At the beginning of November, businesses and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis asked the governing coalition to abandon the planned tax changes which in their opinion will lead to fiscal chaos.
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