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Save Romania Union (USR) Chairman Catalin Drula criticised the authorities for the way they intervened in the protests initiated by transporters and farmers, saying that there is a tendency to use state institutions for political purposes and that Romania is heading towards "a reduction zone" of democracy.
"Freedom of expression, democratic freedom to disagree with this Social Democratic Party [PSD] and National Liberal Parry [PNL] government is sacred. Now, what they are trying to do, by intimidation - there are 24 criminal cases against people who said 'Let's move on with our protest' - this is what only Erdogan did in Istanbul, when he was chasing the people in Taksim Square. Or the regime in Belarus, where the plane is forced to land and an activist is arrested. We are heading towards a zone of shrinking democracy," Drula told Digi 24 private television broadcaster on Tuesday evening.
Moreover, the USR leader also called for the resignation of Minister Catalin Predoiu, after activist Angi Serban was picked up by the police, following a Facebook post. He also called for "an independent investigation to determine how the Romanian police" got to pick up an activist and "humiliate" her through "excessive gestures" such as searches or fingerprinting for expressing an opinion on a social network.
"When there is a placard at a protest that says 'We're taking you down' it doesn't actually mean that you want to make the gesture of putting down those who are in a position of power, but they are metaphors.... (...) What happened subsequently with the pursuit of this woman and the picking up from an address where the police knew she was, even though that's not where she had the address on her ID - so based on electronic intercepts - fingerprinting... (...) I wonder how the police could know where a person is when she is not at the address on her ID card. Just on the basis of electronic intercepts...," said Drula.
He also said that there is "a tendency to use state institutions" for political purposes and that "a warning has been given" to stop the protest actions.
