Threat to Perks Angers Romanian 'Revolutionaries'

For the third consecutive day, dozens of Romanians who took part in the revolution that overthrew the Communist regime protested on Wednesday against a change in the law affecting their privileges.

The so-called "revolutionaries" are those accredited with having taken an active part in the demonstrations that toppled former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989.

About 22,000 people have since obtained "revolutionary certificates" that gave them extra rights, including supplementary pensions, free train travel and tax exemptions.

Some 6,000 of them are also receiving an allowance of 1,900 lei (some 420 euro) per month.

In December, the centre-left government of Victor Ponta scrapped the payments and issued an emergency ordinance ordering the revolutionaries to obtain new certificates, certifying that they played an "important role" in the 1989 uprising.

"The government has to withdraw the law as it leaves many revolutionaries without the means to live. Seven of us are already on hunger strike and we have decided to continue the protests," Liviu Pop, a leader of the protesters, said on Wednesday.

The government has promised to start negotiations with the protesters, but no date has b been officially announced.

There have long been complaints that the revolutionaries have become a shady industry whose bosses issue ID cards to people in return for cash. In 2010, 14,000 people were registered as revolutionaries, but the number has increased consistently each year.

In 2012, the government announced plans to cut back financial support to the revolutionaries. In return, they started protests, asking for their rights not to be removed and promising instead to expose "false" revolutionaries.

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