Why are Romanians protesting in the streets?

Last night saw the second consecutive night of civil unrest in towns and cities across Romania, with protesters and police clashing over a controversial law on government corruption.

Here's what you need to know about the protests.

Why are people protesting?

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More than 250,000 protesters are opposing a controversial new corruption decree put forward by the government, led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu of the left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD).

The emergency decree, which was passed on Tuesday night, decriminalises several offences relating to government corruption and says that abuses of power should only be punishable by incarceration if the sums involved are higher than 200,000 Romanian Lei (£38,000).

One immediate beneficiary of the new legislation would be the PSD leader, Liviu Dragnea, who faces charges of defrauding the state of £20,700, says the BBC.

Grindeanu has defended the decree, arguing it will free up space in Romania's overcrowded prisons.

However, the new law has drawn strong criticism from within the country, as well as from foreign politicians and the European parliament.

The decree will take effect in ten days' time unless it is blocked by a court ruling.

What do the protesters want?

One protester told Sky News she was "outraged" by the decree. "The PSD won the elections but that doesn't mean they can sneakily change the penal code in the middle of the night."

Overall, 56 towns in Romania have seen protests opposing the law this week – including Timisoara, where protests in 1989 sparked the revolution that toppled the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Many protesters are calling for Grindeanu to resign after his first month in power, but others just want the decree to be repealed.

"We don't want the government to quit, because they promised a lot of things to their voters and a lot of ambitious things and we would like to see it," one protester told EuroNews.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who last month joined protesters on the streets to oppose the law, but who wields significantly less power than the Prime Minister, described Wednesday as "a day of mourning for the rule of law".

Iohannis and Romania's top judicial watchdog have filed a constitutional court challenge to the decree.

Two opposition centrist parties, the Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, also filed a motion of no-confidence yesterday against Grindeanu and the government, but this has little chance of succeeding, says RTE.

How has the government reacted?

The Romanian government has ordered a crackdown on protesters, with reports of police firing tear gas into crowds in Bucharest after demonstrators threw bottles, firecrackers and stones at security forces.

Florin Jianu, Romania's minister of business, trade and entrepreneurship, has resigned from the cabinet over the decree.

How has Europe reacted?

The protests on Wednesday night came just hours after a warning from the European parliament in Brussels over the new decree.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "We are following the latest developments in Romania with great concern. The fight against corruption needs to be advanced, not undone."

Acknowledging that Romania has made significant strides toward tackling corruption since its admission to the EU in 2007, he said: "The Commission warns against backtracking."