The anti-government protest of
\nAugust 10 in Bucharest and the situation of the justice system and the rule of
\nlaw in Romania will be debated in the European Parliament in early October. It
\nwas therefore normal for the Romanian Parliament to have its own internal
\ndiscussion on the matter. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the Chamber of Deputies
\ndebated a simple motion filed by the Liberal Party, the largest opposition
\nparty, against Social-Democrat Interior Minister Carmen Dan. The Liberals
\naccuse Minister Dan of coordinating the repressive intervention in the
\nanti-government protest organised by associations of Romanians in the diaspora
\nand marked by violent clashes between protesters and the riot police. Hundreds
\nof people on both sides were wounded and over a hundred thousand mostly
\npeaceful protesters inhaled tear gas. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Minister Dan told Parliament she was
\nconfident the gendarmes’ intervention was legal and gave assurances that the
\nperpetrators of the acts of violence would be brought to justice. Minister Dan went
\non to say that no civil organisation claimed responsibility for the protest,
\neven though some of them originally supported and promoted the event. Carmen
\nDan:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The August 10 protest was not
\npeaceful. Everyone could see that people forcefully tried to enter the
\nGovernment building and attacked the gendarmes and engaged in acts of
\nvandalism. Any possible excessive individual response from gendermes will be
\npunished under the law. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Liberals in turn claim the
\nInterior Minister is fully responsible for the gendarmes’ intervention against
\na peaceful crowd, including women and children, and that Romania’s image abroad
\nwas dealt a severe blow. The leader of the Liberal deputies Raluca Turcan
\ncompared the incidents on August 10 with the miner raids thirty years ago, when
\nthe former communist President Ion Iliescu at the time called on miners from
\nthe Jiu Valley to help repress the protests against the power, which resulted
\nin deaths, people wounded and a traumatised city. Raluca Turcan:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Your arguments are unconvincing. On
\nAugust 10, Madam Minister, you were in the command room of the gravest form of
\nrepression of citizen rights since the miner raids of 1990, and for that you
\nwill pay!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Some voices within the ruling coalition
\nsay it is not Parliament’s job to investigate the August 10 protest, but the
\nresponsibility of the Military Prosecutor’s Office, which has already launched
\nan investigation. News agencies note that, in the wake of the protest, a
\nconflict has erupted within the Social Democratic Party between Bucharest Mayor
\nGabriela Firea and party leader Liviu Dragnea, who has constantly supported
\nMinister Dan. The press further writes that, in the year Romania celebrates 100
\nyears since the Great Union, Romanian society is more dived than ever. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The power and the opposition engage in heated debate in Parliament over protest last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":78515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[31545,116464],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-78746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-anti-government-protest","tag-romania-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n