February 27 (SeeNews) - Some 5,000 people gathered on Sunday night in Bucharest for another night of protests against the government over what they see as attempts to weaken the country's fight against graft.
Every day since January 31 hundreds of people during the week and thousands on Sundays have been gathering in Piata Victoriei square in front of the government headquarters to demand its resignation.
On Sunday, the protesters used blue-coloured sheets of paper and held twelve yellow stars to form the EU flag with the message that Romania is glad to be part of the bloc.
On the night of January 31, the government approved an emergency decree which amended the Criminal Code. The decree was hastily published in the country's Official Gazette, sparking the biggest rallies since the fall of communism in 1989. The decree would have made abuse of office punishable by jail only if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei ($47,500/44,000 euro). Yielding to pressure from the protesters, the government repealed the decree on February 5, but street rallies continued. Last week, Romania's parliament also definitively ditched the controversial decree.
On Saturday, some 1,500 people gathered in the southern city of Targoviste in a pro-governmental rally organised by the local subsidiary of governing Social Democrat Party (PSD), local media reported.
According to a poll released in mid-February by Romania's Social and Political Studies Institute, ISSPOL, support for the left-wing PSD dropped to 31% from 46% shortly before the December 11 elections. However, PSD remains the first party people would vote in case of early elections, followed by centre-right political formations National Liberal Party (PNL) with 17%, Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) with 2% and Popular Movement Party (PMP) with 1%.
The ISSPOL poll, in which 965 eligible voters were interviewed nationwide, has a margin of error of +/-3.2%.
In an attempt to appease the protesters last week the leader of Social Democrat-led coalition government, Sorin Grindeanu, replaced the ministers of economy, business environment, European funds and justice.
(1 euro = 4.5169 lei)