Planned protest against changes to justice laws in Romania also targets audiovisual watchdog

Another round of protests against the Government's intention to change the Criminal Code and pardon thousands of prisoners is scheduled to take place in Romania's capital Bucharest this Sunday, according to the dedicated Facebook event. This time, the rally will also target Romania’s audiovisual watchdog CNA, as people are unhappy with the institution's lack of reaction to the way some local TV stations presented the protests organized in Romania last week. Thousands of people took to the streets in Bucharest and other big cities last Wednesday, after the Ministry of Justice announced its two emergency ordinances aimed at changing the justice laws. Several smaller protests took place in Romania in the coming days, culminating with a massive protest on Sunday, January 22. Some 20,000 people took to the streets in Bucharest on that day, with President Klaus Iohannis also joining the protesters for about 15 minutes. Some of the local TV stations presented the Sunday protests in a distorted way, calling them “a new miners’ riot” or “a coup start.” Moreover, one of the news TV stations presented the information that the people were paid to attend these protests, and that some even received money to bring their dogs, without bringing any real evidence to support the information. However, the TV stations weren’t the only ones that called the protest “a miners’ riot.” In a Facebook post, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who’s also the president of the Chamber of Deputies, said the same thing about the protests while expressing his opinion on Klaus Iohannis’ decision to also attend the rally. The protesters are now unhappy that the audiovisual watchdog CNA hasn't taken any measures against the TV stations that didn’t present the protest in a correct manner. Thus, during their next march, they also plan to stop at the CNA headquarters on their way to the Government. Moreover, thousands of Romanians have also signed two online petitions against Romania TV and Antena 3, two of the TV stations accused of not presenting the protest in an objective manner. One of the petitions, which was signed by more than 27,000 people, requires the removal of the two TV stations from the list of channels included in the TV subscription. The second one