POLICE PROTEST PROMPTS ROMANIAN MINISTER TO RESIGN
Baku, September 27 (AZERTAC). Romanian Interior Minister Vasile Blaga resigned Monday, three days after thousands of policemen rallied outside the presidential palace protesting a 25 percent pay cut.
Blaga called his decision to leave a "resignation of honor," adding he can not accept that the whole ministry is to be blamed for the actions of some protesters, which he called mistakes. The Interior Ministry oversees the police force.
The protests prompted President Traian Basescu to call for an inquiry into discipline problems at the ministry.
But Blaga said Monday the actions of 6,000 policemen cannot impugn the 150,000 employees who make up the ministry.
"I don`t think one`s gesture should be extended to all the ministry`s employees," he said.
About 6,000 Romanian policemen protested in front of the palace in Bucharest on Friday, many throwing their caps into the yard.
They were unhappy with recent austerity measures that trimmed 25 percent off their paychecks. The officers also demanded that the president and his ministers resign.
On Friday, Basescu dropped the police service from his protection detail, saying the protests "undermined state`s authority and the law has been broken with the uniforms themselves."
The next day, the prime minister also dropped police officers from his detail.
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