80,000 Romanian protesters return to streets in anti-corruption ralliesFebruary 13, 2017 - 11:38 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Tens of thousands of Romanians braved the cold and returned to the streets in protest on Sunday, February 12, calling on the government to resign as they accused it of attempting to water down anti-corruption laws, AFP reports. "Thieves! Resign!" chanted protesters in front of the seat of government in Bucharest, as they used the torches from their mobile phones to form a giant Romanian flag. Up to 50,000 protesters took part in the Bucharest march, according to Romanian media reports. The authorities did not give any estimate of their own. Responding to a call on social media, the protesters held up their mobile phone torches against coloured pieces of paper, lighting up the cold night air with the blue, yellow and red of the national flag. "Resist," read a huge slogan projected onto a nearby building. Some protesters in the crowd held up banners with the message "Stop corruption! Fighting for democracy". "We want to give the government a red card," one of the protesters, 33-year-old businessman Adrian Tofan, told AFP in Bucharest. Meanwhile, up to 30,000 more took to the streets in other major cities, calling on the government to stand down. Among them were some 10,000 protesters in Cluj, Transylvania's main city, 4,000 in Timisoara in the west, and 5,000 in the central city of Sibiu. Sunday's demonstrations, the 13th consecutive day of protests against the government, took place despite the administration backing down over a planned controversial decree which would have made abuse of power a crime punishable by jail only if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei (44,000 euros, $47,500). Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |