Romanians on the hike after arrest of President’s favorite

Tens of thousands of Romanians marched on Bucharest’s Victory Square, the Romanian government’s headquarters, over the weekend, after a question was a favorite in the presidential election.

Kalin George was brought about to register as a candidate, and he was later accused of trying to download the constitutional order, as well as membership in a neo-fascist organization.

“Georgecu’s mentality is the same as Trump’s mentality,” Lavinia said approvingly as she pointed the stroller of her three -year -old daughter through a sea of ​​a Romanian tricycle flags.

“He will listen to our opinion just when we listen to him. Today we came here for freedom and democracy.”

On the day of Georgescu’s arrest, an unexpected twist came.

Rifles, grenade launchers and gold bars buried under the boards on the floor were found in attacks by 47 Romanian police properties targeted at a network, allegedly led by a former French legionary and police chief in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Horathi’s current location is unknown, but his alleged relationships with George have added only the intrigue.

While Horathiya admitted as an illegal possession of a weapon, Georgesko denied all misconduct.

In just three months, Romania has moved from a stable and loyal member of the European Union and NATO, to a country where a far -right, pro -Russian figure has come from almost nowhere to become a favorite for the presidency.

Georgesko led the first round of the December election last December, but the vote was canceled after Romanian intelligence revealed that Russia had participated in 800 Tiktok accounts, supporting it.

The elections are repeated on May 4 and 18.

For the critics of Georgescu, the photos of the cache of weapons are the supreme proof of his danger to the republic.

For his supporters, they are the latest attack of mud, the doomed attempt at corrupt regime to oppose the inevitable change of Trump inspired by Trump.

On the road, a lonely bush played the same tune again and again on an electric piano as a sea of ​​protesters passed.

“We are talking about the freedom to choose our own president,” said Oana Eftimi, Vice President of the Patriotic Party of Romanians, another right -wing group.

One of the peculiarities of the phenomenon Kalin George is that he seems to have reached outside existing nationalist parties such as Aur, the Alliance for the Romanians Union, which won 18% and 63 seats in the House of MPs in the December 1 parliamentary elections.

Some surveys put it up to 40%.

Georgescu darkens both the Aur leader of Firebrand, George Simion, and the leader of Romania, Diana Sosoque.

Oana Eftimie dismisses allegations against Georgescu and some of its supporters by warming pliers:

“He was persecuted for all this before and the case was closed last year due to lack of evidence. So he is not a fascist, we are not fascist, we are just normal people who want to be able to choose our leader and be exhausted by those who are now in power.”

In a quiet apartment not far from the noisy marchs, Elena Kalistra, President of Funky Citizens, a liberal, non -governmental organization, admits that the grief of protesters from corrupt, smugly elite, has some basis.

“But if you have a house and the roof is flowing. You don’t burn the house. You fix the roof, right?

“Unfortunately, for us, however, the discomfort we see throughout Europe, the lack of leadership, the lack of politicians capable of talking to the general public without trying to compete with the populists, is also present in Romania.”

As a loyal ally of the United States, Romanian military analysts hold their breath over the fate of a significant US military infrastructure in Romania, which includes 4,500 US staff. Dacian Spring, a major NATO exercise scheduled for spring, was postponed only after the May elections.

Applicants have until March 15 to register their application for the presidential election. If the Romanian Constitutional Court rules that Georgiscus cannot endure because of the accusations equalized against it, how will the Americans react?

US Vice President JD VANCE has criticized Romania at the Munich Security Conference last month.

“If your democracy can be destroyed by several hundred thousand dollars digital advertising from a foreign country, then it was not very strong to start.”

“Now the good news is that I accidentally think your democracies are much smaller than many people are obviously afraid,” Vance added.

The Romanians on both sides of the political spectrum seem unconquured.