Romania’s President goes out to talk to people protesting against him

The pro-Government and anti-President protests continued in front of the Cotroceni Palace, the President’s official residence, on Wednesday, with some 200 people chanting slogans against President Klaus Iohannis. At around 19:00, the President went out of the Cotroceni Palace and joined the protesters, trying to talk to them. However, the people started shouting, booed him, and told him that he doesn’t represent them, that he doesn’t have the normal behavior of a head of state. When the protesters told the President that he is not Romanian, he replied: “We are all Romaians.” The people protesting in front of the Cotroceni Palace say that Klaus Iohannis is not Romanian but German, and that he should “go back to his country,” as he doesn’t represent them. After the President left the protest, employees of the Presidential Administration tried to offer hot tea to the protesters, as it was snowing at that moment, and the temperatures were low, but they refused. Iohannis also wrote a message on his Facebook page, explaining his gesture: “I went this evening to talk to the people who have been protesting for days in front of the Cotroceni Palace. I intend to exercise my mandate as President listening to the voices of all Romanians, regardless of their options. It is only natural to have differences of opinion and points of view, and is the right of every citizen to voice their beliefs in a peaceful and civilized way.” The President’s post gathered over 71,000 likes, and was shared more than 6,800 times. Meanwhile, the anti-Government protests also continued in Romania yesterday, with some 20,000 people taking to the streets in Bucharest and major cities for the ninth day in a row, despite the bad weather. In Bucharest, besides protesting, people also removed the snow from Victoriei Square. BBC also had live transmissions of the protest in Bucharest on its Facebook page. The anti-Government protests, which started last week after the Government adopted a controversial emergency ordinance that would have changed the Penal Code, are to continue in Romania in the following days, as people are unhappy with the current Government and would want it to resign. Meanwhile, the Government survived a no-confidence motion on Wednesday. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Klaus Iohannis on Facebook)