Protests against Rosia Montana mining project continue in Romania, thousands of people march again in Bucharest

Thousands of people have again taken to the streets of Bucharest to protest against the mining project at Rosia Montana and have also taken aim at shale gas exploration during their six hour demonstration.

The estimated 3,000 protestors marched down several streets in Romania’s capital last night (October 27) carrying flags and signs against cyanide mining and chanting the well-known “United we save Rosia Montana”, but also “United we save Romania”, “Rosia, Rosia, here comes the revolution”, or “Air, water and nature, not cyanide and fracking”.

The protest in Bucharest lasted for about six hours. Similar protests have also been organized in other cities across the country. Protests against the mining project at Rosia Montana started nine weeks ago, on September 1, soon after the Government adopted a bill which allows Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), majority owned by Gabriel, to start extracting gold from Rosia Montana using cyanide mining. The draft law is still pending for approval from the Parliament. The gold mining project at Rosia Montana has triggered many controversies over the years, the use of cyanide and the landscape destruction wrought by the project are the main concerns of the mine’s critics. The movement against the exploration and exploitation of shale gas, known as fracking, began in the small hilly town of Pungesti in eastern Romania when villagers forced US energy giant Chevron to halt its plans to drill in the area. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Rezistenta Urbana's facebook page)