Bucharest - About 10,000 people took part in a demonstration in northern Romania yesterday to protest against falling living standards in the country. The demonstrators in Iasi demanded the resignation of the government and some shouted, "Hail Nicolae Ceaucescu", the former dictator who was shot dead shortly after his downfall in December 1989.
There were scuffles with police but security forces stopped demonstrators breaking into the Iasi regional government headquarters, journalists said. The rally, called by the Cartel Alpha and Fratia unions, also condemned what they said was widespread corruption. A similar demonstration at the start of the month degenerated into a riot with workers rampaging through the government building in the central city of Brasov.