Hundreds gather downtown Bucharest in third day of protests against Romania's suspended president

A third day of small scale protests downtown Bucharest ended on Thursday evening, after some 200 protesters shouted their disapproval of suspended president Traian Basescu returning to office.

Protests downtown Bucharest started on Tuesday (August 21 ), when Romania's Constitutional Court decided the referendum to impeach the president on July 29 was invalid, which gives the suspended president the right to return to office. A couple of hundred people came daily to Universitate square downtown Bucharest – the famous 1989 revolution site and the place where a larges scale revolt started earlier this year, but protests stayed on the peaceful side, even if traffic was blocked for several hours. The president Basescu is yet to make any official statement after the Court decided the referendum, which was attended by less than half of the registered voters, was invalid. Some Romanians are now saying the suspended president no longer represents them, as he will return to office based on a technicality, and that in fact, the majority of the voters at the referendum wanted him to leave. Only 46.24 percent of Romanians attended the referendum, on July 29, and 87.5 percent of them voted for the impeachment of the president, according to final official data. A less than half plus one attendance of registered voters meant the vote was invalid and allowed the suspended president to return to office. The Parliament is yet to read the decision of the Constitutional Court. After the decision will be published in the official Gazette, Traian Basescu will return at the helm of the country, replacing the interim Crin Antonescu. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Atitudini.wordpress.com)