Thousands of Romanian protesters return to streets

Bucharest : Tens of thousands of Romanians braved the cold and returned to the streets in protest on Sunday, calling on the government to resign as they accused it of attempting to water down anti-corruption laws.

"Thieves! Resign!" chanted protesters in front of the seat of government in Bucharest, as they used the torches from their mobile phones to form a giant Romanian flag.

Up to 50,000 protesters took part in the Bucharest march, according to Romanian media reports. The authorities did not give any estimate of their own.

Responding to a call on social media, the protesters held up their mobile phone torches against coloured pieces of paper, lighting up the cold night air with the blue, yellow and red of the national flag.

"Resist," read a huge slogan projected onto a nearby building.

Some protesters in the crowd held up banners with the message "Stop corruption! Fighting for democracy".

"We want to give the government a red card," one of the protesters, 33-year-old businessman Adrian Tofan, told AFP in Bucharest.

Meanwhile, up to 30,000 more took to the streets in other major cities, calling on the government to stand down. 

Among them were some 10,000 protesters in Cluj, Transylvania's main city, 4,000 in Timisoara in the west, and 5,000 in the central city of Sibiu.

Sunday's demonstrations, the 13th consecutive day of protests against the government, took place despite the administration backing down over a planned controversial decree which would have made abuse of power a crime punishable by jail only if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei (44,000 euros, $47,500).