2017 Romanian protests

2017 Romanian protests
Demonstrations in front of Victoria Palace, seat of the Romanian government, on 22 January 2017
Date	18 January 2017–present
Location	Various cities in Romania including Bucharest, Constanța, Ploieşti, Timișoara, Craiova, Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Bistrița, Galați, Suceava, Alba Iulia, Sibiu, Brașov, Oradea, Brăila, Târgu Mureș, Bacău, Arad, Târgoviște, Reşiţa, Zalău, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Piatra Neamț, Deva, Drăgăşani, Blaj, Slatina, Piteşti, Caracal, Tulcea, Sighetu Marmației, Focşani, Mediaş, Alexandria, Slobozia, Urziceni, Odobeşti, etc. and protests by the Romanian diaspora all over the world including: Chișinău Melbourne, Perth, Sydney Vienna, Linz, Salzburg Brussels Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City Prague, Brno Copenhagen Helsinki Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier, Grenoble, Toulouse Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Bonn, Munich, Heidelberg, Cologne, Freiburg, Nuremberg Tbilisi Athens, Thessaloniki Budapest Dublin Tel Aviv Rome, Milan, Turin, Verona, Bologna Luxembourg City Valletta Amsterdam Haugesund, Ålesund Krakow Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Bilbao, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca , Gothenburg Zurich London, Birmingham, Leicester, Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds, Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle Washington DC, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Boston Antarctica
Goals	Withdrawal of the government decrees that pardon some crimes and modify criminal code provisions regarding abuse of power Resignation of the government Early elections
Methods	Counter-protests Demonstrations Protest marches Sit-ins Occupations Online activism
Status	Ongoing
Concessions given	Withdrawal of the decrees that started the protests (Feb 5) Resignation of Minister of Justice Florin Iordache (Feb 8)
Number
Jan 18: 5,000 Jan 22: 30,000 Jan 29: 90,000 Jan 31: 37,000 Feb 1: 300,000 Feb 2: 222,000 Feb 3: 325,000 Feb 4: 366,000 Feb 5: 500,000 to 600,000 Feb 6: 53,000 Feb 7: 15,600 Feb 8: 17,000 Feb 9: 11,000 Feb 10: 14,500 Feb 11: 11,500 Feb 12: 80,000 to 102,000 Counter-protests supporting the government: Feb 5: up to 2,500 Feb 6: 4,000 Feb 7: 1,000 Feb 8: 400 Feb 9: 500 Feb 10: 500 Feb 11: 500 Feb 12: 1,000
Casualties
Injuries	5 injured
Arrested	79

In January 2017, days after the government of the Grindeanu Cabinet was sworn into office in Romania, protests took place throughout the country against ordinance bills that were proposed by the Romanian Ministry of Justice regarding the pardoning of certain committed crimes, and the amendment of the Penal Code of Romania (especially regarding the abuse of power).

Despite the negative reactions from both the judicial institutions and the public, the newly sworn-in government secretly approved an ordinance modifying the Penal Code and Penal Procedure Code during the night of 31 January. Opponents raised accusations that the ordinance was intended for decriminalisation of government corruption, and to help hundreds of current and former politicians to escape ongoing criminal investigations or prison sentences.

Immediately after it was announced that the ordinance was passed, more than 25,000 people protested that night. The protests swelled the next day to over 300,000 people throughout the country, making the protests the largest since the fall of Communism and the overthrowing of Nicolae Ceaușescu. The protests have been continuing on a daily basis since then and they reached their peak on 5 February when between 500,000 and 600,000 people protested throughout the country, thus making them the largest in Romania's history.

So far, protestors have succeeded in compelling the government to withdraw the contested ordinance (subject to approval from the Romanian parliament), and Florin Iordache, who as justice minister was formally responsible for putting forward the ordinance, has resigned over the scandal that ensued.

Although the government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu repeatedly denied that there were government ordinance bills regarding the pardoning and amnesty of committed crimes, there were strong rumors in the media that the government intended to pass such bills on 18 January 2017, mere days after the government was sworn in. Since the government did not publish the government meeting's agenda for that day, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, took it upon himself to attend and preside over the meeting, as envisioned by Article 87 of the Constitution of Romania. After a private meeting between the president, the prime minister and the justice minister, the government meeting was convened and presided over by the president together with the prime minister. Despite the prime minister's initial attempt to block the press' attendance and subsequent avoidance of the subject, the president announced to the media that there were two bills regarding the pardoning of crimes and the amendment of the Penal Code of Romania. He further announced that the prime minister assured him that these ordinances would not be passed without a transparent process, which included consulting with the relevant judicial institutions, as well as the public.