Several thousand people took part on Thursday evening in an antisemitic protest in University Square against the Vexler Law, during which legionary songs explicitly dedicated to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of the Legionary Movement, were sung. The demonstration was organized by Claudiu Târziu, founder of the Conservative Action Party, and supported by AUR.
Video footage recorded on site shows groups of demonstrators chanting the song “Șoim român” (“Romanian Hawk”), a well-known legionary song historically associated with the cult of Codreanu, referred to in the lyrics as “the Captain.” The song was played over loudspeakers in University Square.
The legionary anthem contains direct references to “heroic death,” war, and to the leader of the Legionary Movement, a fascist organization active in interwar Romania.
Antisemitic anthem sung at an antisemitic protest against the law combating extremism
The moment took place in University Square during the demonstration, which gathered several hundred participants and officially aimed to oppose the law on combating extremism. At the same time, protesters chanted slogans such as “Stop the Vexler Law” and “Călin Georgescu for president.”
The protest’s organizer, Claudiu Târziu, had previously stated that the demonstration was aimed exclusively at opposing the Vexler Law and rejected the idea that it involved promoting extremism.
He publicly claimed that the law risks leading to censorship of literary works and invoked the case of the antisemitic poet Radu Gyr, a former member of the Legionary Movement and informant for the communist-era secret police.
The Vexler Law, adopted by Parliament in December, explicitly criminalizes the distribution of fascist and legionary materials, as well as the public promotion of the cult of individuals who were part of the leadership of fascist or legionary organizations.
The law also provides criminal penalties for the promotion of legionary ideologies and for denying or minimizing the Holocaust.
