The unprecedented austerity measures imposed by the conservative government of Emil Boc in Romania is leading to increasingly extreme protests by those who face growing poverty and a lack of perspective in what many now call the “the land of no opportunities”.
On December 23, a sitting of the Romanian parliament was forced to recess following a shocking incident. Adrian Sobaru, a 40-year-old man working as an electrician at the national television station (TVR), tried to commit suicide by jumping from the balcony of the parliament. The tragedy was caught on camera.
The man was wearing a white shirt on which he had written: “You shot bullets at us, you have destroyed our children’s future, you have sold us.” Standing on the edge of the balcony, Sobaru shouted “Boc, you killed my family! You’ve taken the bread from the mouth of my children. For you, Boc!” He then jumped into the plenary hall from a height of about six meters.
Andrian Sobaru’s colleagues have provided some insight into his desperate living conditions. His income as the father of a sick child had been cut by the Boc government from 550 lei (US$160) to 150 lei (US$45). One commented: “One of his children has autism. In recent years, he no longer received free medication for the treatment and one therapy session alone costs 200 lei (US$55)...The cuts introduced last year by the government affect every sphere of society and include huge reductions in public service and cuts to pensions, education and the health service .The government has cut public service wages by 24 percent. At the same time, value added tax on basic commodities has been increased from 19 to 24 percent...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/roma-j10.shtml
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