New protests were announced for Thursday, at the Palace of Parliament, where the amendments to the judicial laws are being debated. Ex-Minister Vlad Voiculescu called on Romanians to go and protest at the Palace of Parliament, where “a gang of big-mouth hoodlums who have been riding roughshod over the country for years and want to take control of it so as to no longer be bothered” are to be found.
The protests are organised, as always, on Facebook, being scheduled to take place daily, from 5 p.m. to 11:55 p.m., until December 9, at the Palace of Parliament, where the amendments to the judicial laws are about to be voted these days.
Ex-Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu called on Romanians to go and protest at the Palace of Parliament where “Ciordache is once again doing what he knows best.”
“If you are in Bucharest, go at the Parliament! I understand people who care have gathered at the Izvor entrance! It’s unbelievable what they are doing in Parliament! Ciordache is once again doing what he knows best! Go to Parliament! A gang of big-mouth hoodlums who have been riding roughshod over this country for years and want to take personal control of it so as to no longer be bothered! That’s all they know, that’s all they can! They don’t know any different. They must be stopped! Go to Parliament!” Vlad Voiculescu wrote on Facebook on Wednesday night, stating he is in Brussels and will return to Bucharest on Thursday.
During the Lower House debates on Wednesday, approximately 400 people protested outside the Palace of Parliament, shouting “brood of thieves and mafiosos!”, “helicopters for blighters!”, “thieves”, “Dragnea to jail!”, “lawbreaking Parliament, go to court!”, “justice not corruption.”
There were also incidents during the protests, scuffles ensuing between protesters and law enforcement after several protesters broke through the line and briefly blocked traffic. Likewise, three persons were taken in by policemen after two protesters complained that a Lower House lawmaker hit them with his car. Lower House lawmakers were jeered by protesters on exiting the Palace of Parliament. USR MPs went out with their mobile phone lights on and joined the protesters, whom they applauded and thanked for showing up to prevent the adoption of the judicial laws. Protests took place on Wednesday evening in Cluj-Napoca too, where people marched through the streets, but also in Iasi and Sibiu.
UDMR MP Marton Arpad likens protesters to miners who came to Bucharest in 1990
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) House member Marton Arpad likened those who protested outside the Palace of Parliament on Wednesday to the miners who came to Bucharest in 1990, and likened USR to Ion Iliescu.
Marton Arpad recounted how he left the Palace of Parliament on foot on Wednesday evening, passing through the protesters gathered in Izvor Park. He said he saw in their midst one of the leaders of the Save Romania Union (USR), who claimed that the protesters are peaceful and USR did not call them in the street.
Marton said that after he arrived home he saw on television another USR leader who thanked the protesters.
“I remembered June 1990, when, despite not calling them, Iliescu thanked the miners for showing up to defend the rule of law,” he added within the special parliamentary committee on the judicial laws.
USR House member Stelian Ion reacted immediately.
“We didn’t call the people in the street, even though I consider it an expression of civism, the last redoubt of our democracy. Protesting is a fundamental right. Being likened to Iliescu who called up the miners in 1990, likening people who peacefully protest outside Parliament to the miners who came with clubs and swept through Bucharest is unimaginable,” Stelian Ion told the UDMR MP.
Photo: Agerpres
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