30 injured in Bucharest anti-government protests

PanARMENIAN.Net - Romanian protesters clashed with riot police in Bucharest on Sunday, January 15, and demonstrated in other large cities, as protests spread for a fourth day despite a government decision to cancel an unpopular healthcare reform bill, according to AFP.

The protests began on Thursday in support of a deputy health minister Raed Arafat who quit after criticising a draft bill that would have added private firms to the state health sector.

The cabinet withdrew the bill on Friday, but that did little to assuage the demonstrators, who returned to the streets to express general anger at a government that has imposed severe spending cuts, Reuters reported.

More than 30 people were injured Sunday during a protest that turned violent in Romania's capital, with demonstrators throwing stones and riot police using tear gas, medical sources said.

Around a thousand Romanians had gathered in central Bucharest to voice anger at falling living standards and call on President Traian Basescu to step down.

But hours after the beginning of the peaceful demonstration, about a hundred hooded youths started throwing stones, firecrackers and smoke bombs, repeating the previous night's scenario, when a dozen people were injured. The riot police responded with tear gas and pushed back the demonstrators who were trying to block traffic in University Square.