[47][48] Opponents raised accusations that the ordinance was intended for decriminalisation of government corruption, and to help hundreds of current and former politicians to escape ongoing criminal investigations or prison sentences.

[70] Despite the prime minister's initial attempt to block the press' attendance and subsequent avoidance of the subject, the president announced to the media that there were two bills regarding the pardoning of crimes and the amendment of the Penal Code of Romania.

[71] He further announced that the prime minister assured him that these ordinances would not be passed without a transparent process, which included consulting with the relevant judicial institutions, as well as the public.

[72] After analysing the provisions in the bills, the judicial institutions (including the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Superior Council of the Magistracy and the National Anticorruption Directorate) issued negative opinions on the proposed bills, generally stating that the laws would not achieve their stated goals and would rather undermine both the criminal justice system and the fight against corruption.

"[72] Liviu Dragnea, the leader of Romania's Social Democratic Party (PSD), reacted by accusing Iohannis of leading a Mineriad and labelling the protests as the beginning of a coup.

[80][81] There were also notable protests in Sibiu, Iasi, Brasov, Bacau and Constanta, as well as solidarity meeting in Copenhagen, Paris, London and Haugesund.

[83] In Bucharest, the crowd of protesters gathered in the centre of the city, at University Square, and went on a peaceful march that included planned stops at the media watchdog CNA, the Ministry of Justice, the HQ of the Ombudsman and the government.

[86][87] After the Grindeanu Cabinet approved the aforementioned emergency ordinances on Tuesday evening, 31 January, thus turning them into laws, an impromptu protest took place at Piața Victoriei in front of Victoria Palace, the government seat.

Once the Justice Minister of Romania, Florin Iordache, announced to the press that evening that the bills had been approved, a protest started taking place 30 minutes afterwards.

[88] Thousands of people also came out to protest in other cities throughout Romania against the ordinances adopted by the government: Cluj-Napoca (5,000), Timișoara (1,500), Sibiu (2,000), Brașov (1,500), Iași (500), Ploiești (100) and Constanța (100).

The rest of the protests throughout the country were started and ended peacefully, with the participation being as follows: Cluj-Napoca: 35,000, Timișoara: 20,000, Sibiu: 20,000, Iași: 10,000, Brașov: 8,000, Târgu-Mureș: 6,000, Constanța: 5,000, Bacău: 6,000, Alba Iulia: 5,000, Craiova: 4,000, Galați: 3,500, Arad: 2,500, Mediaș: 2,000, and Brăila: 1,000.

[52] There were also protests in cities throughout Europe with large Romanian immigrant communities, mostly in London, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Dublin, Turin, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

According to estimates by Digi24, 300,000 people were present at the protest in Bucharest, followed by Cluj-Napoca (50,000), Sibiu (45,000), Timișoara (40,000), Iași (30,000), Ploiești (15,000), Brașov (10,000), Craiova (10,000), Baia Mare (8,000), Constanța (7,000), Oradea (5,000) and Bacău (5,000).

Over 40,000 people[20][117][61] protested in other major cities across the country, including 15,000 in Cluj-Napoca, 10,000 in Iași, 10,000 in Sibiu, 6,000 in Timișoara, 5,000 in Brașov, 3,500 in Baia Mare, 1,500 in Constanța, 1,500 in Galați, 1,000 in Bistrița, 1,000 in Craiova and others.

[9] This included the governmental decision-making on judicial legislation and the attempted modification of the criminal (or penal) code,[113] the dismissal of the Prosecutor General of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruța Kövesi,[118][119][120][121] the gaffes of the prime minister[122][123] and the fact that the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, is head of the Chamber of Deputies despite having been sentenced to prison.

[16] The gendarmes use tear-gas, pepper spray, a water cannon and gas grenades, at the orders of the prefect of Bucharest, Speranța Cliseru, on the civilian population, indiscriminately.

[134][135][136][137] In the aftermath of the violence, the Save Romania Union, one of the opposition parties, requested the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Carmen Dan, and the head of the Romanian Gendarmerie, Sebastian Cucoș.

[138] The Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, also condemned the "brutal intervention of the gendarmerie, vastly disproportionate relative to the actions of the majority of those in Victoria Square".

[141] Amnesty International called for "prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations by civilian authorities into the allegations of unnecessary and excessive use of force by the gendarmerie against participants of a protest in Bucharest on 10 August".

[142] The European Commission stated through its spokesperson that it is "closely following the events in Romania" and that "The protesters critiqued the decline of the progress in the domains of judicial reforms and in the fight against corruption.

In the context of the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification, the European Commission follows the events with worry and gives an increased importance to the independence of the judiciary system and of the fight against corruption.

[159] Despite the negative reactions from the relevant judicial institutions, as well as the massive protests that took place throughout the country, the Grindeanu Cabinet, especially Florin Iordache (Justice Minister), repeatedly restated their position in favour of the bills.

[160][161] However, before 1 February 2017, Florin Iordache was seemingly backing down by leaning towards the option of the laws not being passed as Emergency Government Ordinances, but rather being sent to Parliament after the public consultations and modifications have been made.

However, questions surrounding the new ordinance's constitutionality arose, which were affirmed by Justice Minister Iordache the following day when he stated that the intent was to bring the two Codes back to their prior form (including the resulting unconstitutionality).

[67] Furthermore, Prime Minister Grindeanu stated that the government will instead try to pass the content from the original ordinance in a new bill through Parliament (where PSD and ALDE have a comfortable majority).

[169] On 8 February 2017, the Minister of Justice, Florian Iordache, announced his resignation with immediate effect due to the scandal that ensued from the controversial ordinance that modified the two penal codes.

[171] The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham) issued a statement which said that "[i]t is extremely worrying for the business community and society as a whole, that legislative pieces with such moral, societal and economic implications with immediate and long term effects are adopted by the government without observing the minimum requirements of transparency in decision-making".

They consider the legislation which was originally proposed by the Ministry of Justice to threaten the progress Romania has made in recent years to build strong judicial institutions shielded from political interference.