A general view of Bucharest's Victory Plaza full of anti-corruption protesters flashing the flashlights on their cell-phones during a massive demonstration in front of government headquarters in Romania on Sunday. Although the government repealed a decree seen as protecting corruption, the protesters are not backing down and continue to take to the streets on Tuesday. Photo by Dan Balanescu/EPA

Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Protesters in Romania have been demonstrating for nearly week -- at one point amassing up to 500,000 people -- and are now calling for the resignation of Prime minister Sorin Grindeanu.

The gatherings came in response to a decree from the left-wing government that appeared to protect corruption. The government repealed the decree Sunday but some protesters said they will continue their show-of-force because of a lack of trust in the government.


"Why are we still here now?" a protester who works as a translator taking part in a Bucharest demonstration told The New York Times. "Because we can't trust this new government."

The most concentrated demonstration occurred in Bucharest's Victory Square in front of the government's headquarters.

Some protesters are calling on Grindeanu to resign. The decree, enacted by Romania's ruling party, the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, which won a decisive electoral victory in December, would have decriminalized corruption in amounts less than $47,500. Anyone serving a sentence of less than five years would have seen the charges dropped and would have been released from prison.

The government said the decree, which passed Jan. 31, was a way to reduce prison overcrowding. Protesters said they are concerned about the government's plan to re-write the law and to send it to Parliament for debate.

Romania's Constitutional Court will rule this week on whether the original decree was legal.

"The ordinance has been withdrawn but has now been introduced almost unchanged into the parliamentary process. They did not withdraw it because they considered it wrong but because of the pressure," a protester who is a businessman told CNN. "The only reasonable outcome for me is the government resigning and either put a better government in place or call an election."

Eric DuVall contributed to this report.