Central Bucharest was thronged with protesters for a third night on August 12, with thousands of people expressing anger at the government over corruption and a perceived effort by the ruling party to decriminalize official wrongdoing. The demonstrations were bolstered by diaspora Romanians who have returned to their homeland to demand the government's resignation.
Romania Hit By Protests
Protesters march through central Bucharest on August 12, the third consecutive night of antigovernment demonstrations in Romania.
On August 10, crowds estimated at between 30,000 and 80,000 gathered in front of Romania's government building in the capital. Large protests were also reported over the weekend in other major cities, including Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, and Sibiu.
The crowds rallied after calls went out over social media for "all Romanians [to] come to Bucharest!"
The demonstrators called for Romania's Social Democrat-led government to resign, in part over the ruling coalition's dismissal of the head of the anticorruption agency and its moves to change laws in a way that critics say will make corruption more difficult to prosecute.
A protester holds a placard depicting Romania's leftist Social Democratic Party leaders in a lineup of Communist icons.
Violence broke out between protesters and a ring of riot police guarding the government building on August 10.
Some in the crowd threw rocks and other projectiles at police, while police used pepper spray, water cannons, and tear gas against the crowd.
Romanian authorities say 440 people, including two dozen riot police, received medical treatment after the clashes.
A jet of chemical spray catches a protester on August 10.
On August 11, a second night of protests followed as President Klaus Iohannis condemned as "disproportionate" the use of force by security forces during the clashes of August 10.
Police denied using excessive force, while Romania's interior minister said riot police had intervened against "hooligans who had attacked the state's authority."
A protester waves a Canadian flag on August 12, as a third night of protests began. The protests have been dubbed the "diaspora protests" due to the number of Romanians who traveled home from abroad to take part in the demonstrations.
An estimated 3 million Romanians live abroad, largely due to corruption and poor prospects in their home country.
One protester told Reuters that he left Romania for Italy 15 years ago "to give my children a better life, which was not possible here then," adding, "Unfortunately it is still not possible; the people who govern us are not qualified and they are corrupt."