In this Feb. 11, 2013, file photo, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta speaks during a Press conference in Bucharest, Romania. Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced the resignation of his government Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 following huge protests in the wake of a nightclub fire that killed more than 30 people. AP File Photo
BUCHAREST, Romania—Romania’s embattled Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned Wednesday, after a deadly nightclub blaze prompted mass demonstrations, but his move failed to stop tens of thousands from taking to the streets for a second night.
READ: Romania buries fire hero as thousands protest against gov’t
The 43-year-old prime minister announced the dissolution of the government on television, saying top officials had to take responsibility for Friday’s tragedy at the Colectiv disco in Bucharest.
The fire left 32 people dead and nearly 200 injured, many of whom remain in critical condition.
READ: Romania nightclubs: We were reckless, risked patrons’ lives
Ponta, Romania’s premier since 2012, had been under pressure to quit weeks before the blaze, after going on trial in September on charges of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.
“I am stepping down as prime minister,” he said. “I hope the government’s resignation will satisfy the people who came out in the streets.
“I have to acknowledge the legitimate anger of the people.”
But the move was not enough to stop 30,000 people taking to the streets later on Wednesday for a second day of protests to demand a “profound change” in the government.
More than 20,000 gathered in the capital, while some 10,000 turned out across a dozen other major cities.
‘The last straw’
“People want a change in the system, half measures are not enough,” said Marius Matache, a musician taking part in the march.
“Our friends in the Colectiv disco were killed by a vile system. It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Wednesday’s turnout was even bigger than one the previous evening in Bucharest’s Victory Square, the seat of government, calling for Ponta and his interior minister, Gabriel Oprea, to step down.
The marchers chanted “Ponta resign” and “Killers”, and some waved the national flag with holes in it—a symbol of the popular revolution 25 years ago that toppled the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
“This tragedy touched the nation’s most sensitive nerve,” President Klaus Iohannis said. “Romanians’ indignation has turned into a real revolt.”
He regretted that “people had to die for the government to step down.”
After his resignation announcement, Ponta and his Social Democrat party met their coalition partners and nominated Defence Minister Mircea Dusa as interim premier.
The conservative Iohannis must now start talks with political parties on the formation of a new government, though his own National Liberal Party—in opposition in parliament—called for early elections.
Analyst Ciprian Ciucu of the Romanian Centre for European Policies said the cumulative pressure of the graft scandal and anger over the nightclub disaster had caused Ponta to resign.
“Ponta was looking for a way out, his government was coming to its end,” Ciucu told AFP.
Three of the nightclub’s bosses were arrested on Monday on suspicion of manslaughter over the fire, which officials and witnesses have blamed on a failure to observe safety regulations.
The venue did not have the required authorisation to hold concerts or to stage pyrotechnic displays, the secretary of state at the interior ministry, Raed Arafat, has said.
Heroism, bitterness
The toll from the nightclub fire would have been worse but for the heroism of two men, physicist Claudiu Petre and drummer Adrian Rugina, who went repeatedly into the burning club to rescue trapped revellers, only to die themselves.
Witnesses said a fireworks display triggered the blaze at the Colectiv, which was located in a former shoe factory. The inferno sparked a deadly stampede.
The tragedy shocked Romania and prompted Iohannis—Ponta’s bitter political rival—to call for fundamental change in a society riven by corruption.
“We should no longer tolerate government incompetence, institutional inefficiency, and we cannot let corruption spread to the point that it kills people,” he said on Sunday.
Prosecutors accuse Ponta of receiving the equivalent of 55,000 euros ($63,000) from Dan Sova, a political ally and member of parliament suspected by prosecutors of abuse of power but who enjoys immunity.
Ponta stepped down as in July head of the Social Democrat party, which holds a comfortable majority, but survived a no-confidence vote in parliament in September shortly after his trial started.
Another preliminary hearing is due on Friday over the charges, which date back as far as 2007 when Ponta—the first Romanian head of government to stand trial while in office—was working as a lawyer.
Prosecutors also suspect Ponta of a conflict of interest during his time as premier, but that probe was stymied when parliament refused to lift his immunity from prosecution.