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Riot police stand guard as demonstrators gather in front of the government headquarters in Bucharest, on Feb. 1.

The largest protests since the collapse of communism failed to persuade Romanias government to reverselegislative changes that undermine a clampdown on corruption and have enraged the public.

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We took a decision and were going forward, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told a news conference with party leader Liviu Dragnea on Thursday. The party assured me we have its full support to continue our activity and proceed with the governing plan.

Source: Romanian Government

The Social Democrats face the largest backlash since the 1989uprising that ousted dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Romanias third government in two years incurred the wrath of the public andPresident Klaus Iohannis by unexpectedly easing punishments for officials who abuse their positions and seeking to free others from prison. The protestersin the European Union and NATO member back the anti-graft drive thats ensnared top officials, including an ex-Social Democrat premier.

The turmoil sent the leu 1 percent weakeragainst the euro on Wednesday,the steepest decline in more than two years and one that erased all of its 2017 gains. It had rebounded by 0.4 percent as of 5:59 p.m. Thursday in Bucharest. S&P Global Ratings said risks to Romanias investment-grade status are currently balanced.

The government wants to pardon prisoners serving sentences shorter than five years, excluding rapists and repeat offenders, and decriminalize abuse-of-office offenses for sums of less than 200,000 lei ($48,000). While it says its trying to ease prisonovercrowding, its actions would free hundreds ofex-officials and halt probes into others.

They include an investigation into Dragnea, whos seeking a retrial after receiving a suspended sentence for electoral fraud. He denies wrongdoing and on Thursday blamed the protests on a misinformation campaign and encouragement from the president.

The Social Democrats strategy is to shield current and past party politicians from corruption probes, and make it practically impossible for serving politicians to be prosecuted for corruption, James Sawyer, a London-based researcher at Eurasia Group, said in an e-mailed note.

For an explainer on the protests in Romania, click here

Iohannis, whos challenging the governments actions in theConstitutional Court, said the only way to end the unrest is to repeal the steps. Hes seeking talks with Grindeanu next week. Prosecutors said theyll investigate the process through which the cabinet approved the measures.

The controversy in Romania comes amid concern that other regional governments are undermining the rule of law. The EU has reprimanded Poland and Hungary for state encroachment on thejudiciary and the media. The government in Warsaw backed away from plans to tighten abortion rules after mass protests.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker criticized Romanias actions, saying the fight against corruption needs to be advanced, not undone. Six embassies, including those of the U.S. and Germany, said they hope the government will reverse this unhelpful course.

Anti-graft prosecutors are working on more than 2,000abuse-of-office cases. In the past two years, theyve sent more than 1,000 people to trial, seeking to recover damages in excess of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). The country of 19 million people ranks fourth-worst for graft in the EU, according to Berlin-based Transparency International.

Ill come here every single day until they reverse all the measures and then leave, Ionut Balcescu, a 34-year-old small-business owner,said Wednesday evening in Bucharest. They take us for fools.

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Minister Quits as Biggest Post-Communist Protests Rock Romania ... - Bloomberg