Romanian Public Protests

[edyzmedieval]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.642eaed50ad6

http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/01/r...graft-offences

Tens of thousands of people have been marching lately in Romania to protests the decriminalization of offences such as graft and abuse of power in public conduct, not to mention corruption. This would literally bring out a considerable number of prisoners, and it would also close the current investigations on a considerable number of politicians within the country, hence the uproar.

The revolt brought out tens of thousands of people in bitter cold, which will soon make it even bigger as the law was adopted late last night (at midnight), in secrecy.

A little info from Romania, since you might have noticed a considerable number of news lately about it.

[Montmorency]

Anything to do with the reported success in recent years of anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi?

[edyzmedieval]

Eeeexactly.

In short, a lot of politicians have been convicted of corruption, and in some cases, huge amounts of money have been funneled from state contracts to party members. Some of them are in jail, a lot of them have cases brought upon them by the DNA (Directia Nationala Anticoruptie - National Anticorruption Directorate) which is led by Mrs. Kovesi.

The DNA has been a serious scare for many of them, and in many cases the DNA is regarded as one of the success stories of justice and anticorruption in Eastern Europe. The New York Times even featured an article about Mrs. Kovesi. - https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/w...ta-kovesi.html

The politicians are really desperate, and it shows. The way that the law was adopted last night (at midnight!) without any proper approval from the Superior Council of Magistrates (which is required by law) and then put into the official law monitor at 1:30 AM (!!!!!!) shows the magnitude of desperation.

[Greyblades]

I wonder what flavour of lynching they will choose; will they drag a guillotine out of the closest napoleonic museum, find the country's largest tree and longest length of rope or will they simply raid a rather shady army surplus store and take the political class to the closest wall that needs a new coat of paint.

[Husar]

I wonder what flavour of lynching they will choose; will they drag a guillotine out of the closest napoleonic museum, find the country's largest tree and longest length of rope or will they simply raid a rather shady army surplus store and take the political class to the closest wall that needs a new coat of paint.

https://youtu.be/-IArFepCDF0?t=266

[Montmorency]

https://youtu.be/-IArFepCDF0?t=266

She said "assassinate", not "execute".

[Husar]

She said "assassinate", not "execute".

He said (lynching), she said (assassinate)...

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I wonder what flavour of lynching they will choose; will they drag a guillotine out of the closest napoleonic museum, find the country's largest tree and longest length of rope or will they simply raid a rather shady army surplus store and take the political class to the closest wall that needs a new coat of paint.

Romania includes Transylvania, does it not? So Hollywood tells us that it has to be a goodly sized mob with farm implements and torches -- I wonder if they will still require the mob to dress Bavarianesque and speak in a mix of lower class Brit and stereotypical German accented English?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Humor aside, I hope they can get the corruption dialed back hard. Endemic corruption is a plague upon the body politic.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Wait? What?

Who exactly has passed these "Emergency Decrees"? The Parliament, the office of the President?

Can they be impeached for flagrant abuse of power?

Edit:

Ah, I see - it's Parliament:

BBC has taken note, EU angry:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38828711

[edyzmedieval]

The Executive has this power of "Emergency Decree" which allows them to bypass the Parliament and take immediate action because they are given consent implicitly by the Parliament.

So technically, the executive can pass laws without explicit Parliamentary vote. The practice is widespread, causing considerable problems over time. As evidence today.

As for the protests... everyone has been peaceful so far, and I hope it stays that way. But I doubt it - the fury and outrage is huge.

[Greyblades]

https://youtu.be/-IArFepCDF0?t=266

There's a difference between a revolutionary lynching and a wingnut's assassination dream.

Romania includes Transylvania, does it not? So Hollywood tells us that it has to be a goodly sized mob with farm implements and torches -- I wonder if they will still require the mob to dress Bavarianesque and speak in a mix of lower class Brit and stereotypical German accented English?

Ah of course, Transylvania, the sharpened spike business is bound to boom.

I can see the Turks flinching allready.

[CrossLOPER]

https://youtu.be/-IArFepCDF0?t=266

There seems to be this demographic of doughy dudes with patchy facial hair running their own "real and unbaised" news network on youtube, complete with a totally unnecessary ticker. Their reporting seems to include a breathless non-sequitur for each news report, devoid of any sort of deep analysis and focused on promoting outrage in their base. They seem to offer minimal knowledge on the subject, either because they mistrust experts, or the experts they contacted are unwilling to go down the path of career suicide. Now, I have them all in my feed because I forgot to open up a private window in firefox before viewing one of them. Thanks Husar. Thanks.

[Husar]

There's a difference between a revolutionary lynching and a wingnut's assassination dream.

Which is?

[Montmorency]

Which is?

Executions and lynchings are team-building activities, while assassinations are unaccountable to the public.

[edyzmedieval]

Unfortunately, the law will become official in about 10 days - until then the Constitutional Court has to be notified with regards to the law officially, and it has to be done by the institution of the Ombudsman.

But the Ombudsman... well, let's just say he campaigned for this law indirectly.

[Montmorency]

Is the protest movement strong enough? Bloomberg here claims around 100,000 protesters over the weekend before the legislative action. What are the numbers now?

[edyzmedieval]

Almost 300.000 in the whole country.

150.000 just in Bucharest.

[edyzmedieval]

It is the biggest public demonstration in Romanian history after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

[edyzmedieval]

300.000 people protested last night in the streets against the government and the corruption.

The government said it won't back down.

So more protests and more pressure will follow.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Firstly - sorry, when I said "Parliament" I meant "Cabinet".

My understanding is your President is against this, can't he do anything to at least slow down the enacting od the law?

Also - keep at it - dig your heals in. Please don't burn too much of Bucharest though, I plan to visit one day.

[Kralizec]

I'll certainly be following this. Good luck to the Romanians on the street

[Sarmatian]

Also - keep at it - dig your heals in. Please don't burn too much of Bucharest though, I plan to visit one day.

Precisely what I was gonna say. Don't let them get away with it.

[Dâriûsh]

Looks like the protests worked.

[Montmorency]

Looks like the protests worked.

On one hand, it's hard to believe a prodigal government returning on the back of widespread popular support for a long tenure could misuse that capital so catastrophically, so fast.

is there anything (else) sub rosa going on in the legislature to take advantage of the commotion, perhaps?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

On one hand, it's hard to believe a prodigal government returning on the back of widespread popular support for a long tenure could misuse that capital so catastrophically, so fast.

is there anything (else) sub rosa going on in the legislature to take advantage of the commotion, perhaps?

Entrenched privilege is a strange thing.

They just got reelected - so clearly people want more graft in their government, given that the last lot were about less graft.

[Montmorency]

Entrenched privilege is a strange thing.

They just got reelected - so clearly people want more graft in their government, given that the last lot were about less graft.

Well, it seems to be the same party (leading the government) that was forced out by 2015 protests. And though they won a good %, overall turnout wasn't as good.

[edyzmedieval]

In the end, the street prevailed. The decree was struck down.

BUT - it's not over yet. The problem is the following - the decree was taken back, but the law can easily pass through the Parliament and we're back to square one and with even more furious protests.

So it's the first battle only.

The protests however will continue - and tonight, the biggest one will follow.

[edyzmedieval]

600.000 people protested last night, it was fantastic.

Despite the annulment of the problematic decree, the people still came out in HUGE numbers to protest the decree (why was it passed in the first place) and the decree (there's still a chance it will be passed into law!) and the government for not doing it's job.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Good, don't let them forget they screwed up.