Romanians protest against toil and hardship

On Monday over 10,000 demonstrators followed a call by the Romanian National Confederation of Trade Unions CNSLR-Frăţia in Bucharest to protest against the country's austerity policy. The demonstrations resulted in several scuffles with the police. The Romanian daily Gândul comments: "Of course we must refrain from violence. That's the politically correct thing to do. But in a Romania where the government listens to no one any more with the exception of [President] Băsescu, such shouts and scuffles lend every protest a note of sincerity. Huge changes have taken place in Romania in the last four months. The government employees who were still dancing in an easy manner at the demonstrations in May have come back from their holidays, spent all their savings and are now angry indeed. They've had enough time to feel the 25 percent wage cuts. ... The demonstration on Wednesday was just a start. The civil servants have understood that they are being systematically oppressed. That's why they're now shouting as loud as they can."

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