FILE PHOTO: View of Romania's parliament main hall in Bucharest, November 18, 2014. REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel/File Photo

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A vice-president of Romania’s ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) called on his party’s leadership and government to withdraw a decree decriminalizing some graft offenses, a move that has brought tens of thousands of Romanians out in protest.

Private television station Digi24 TV quoted Mihai Chirica, also mayor of the northern city of Iasi, as saying he understood protesters’ legitimate demands and that he backed them.