Scandal and hustles at the press conference held by the PNL-USR candidate for Bucharest City Hall

The PNL-USR candidate for the Bucharest City Hall, Nicusor Dan has held a press conference on Friday morning, in order to present and criticise the activity report of the incumbent Bucharest mayor, Gabriela Firea, who is running for a new mandate on behalf of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The conference has been interrupted by the SocDem deputy mayor of Bucharest, Aurelian Badulescu, who came on the venue with a cupboard, clamoring and constantly interrupting Nicusor Dan’s speech.

In retort, Nicușor Dan told Badulescu to observe the 2-metre social distancing and they even hustled each other at some point.

Aurelian Badulescu was interrupting Dan all the time, clamoring and denying all statements made by the USR-PNL candidate: “Fake“, “You are lying”, “It’s not true“.

As for the cupboard brought by the PSD deputy mayor at the press conference, Nicusor Dan has slammed it in the attempt to remove it. “Stay away from me, 2 metres away”, he told Badulescu.

After that, there was a moment of hustles and booing. Badulescu told Dan that the crowd was booing him, but the people retorted Badulescu that the booing was actually targeting him.

A citizen stopping by with a motorcycle approached deputy mayor Badulescu, accusing Firea’s administration that it had not widened Prelungirea Ghencea.

Nicusor Dan accused mayor Gabriela Firea, saying her activity report during her mandate at the helm of the Capital City Hall includes: the bankruptcy of the Autonomous Administration for Thermal Energy Distribution (RADET), the bad condition of the transport infrastructure, the failure to attract EU funds, CJEU’s suing Romania for the pollution in Bucharest, “the heist” of Verdi Park and of the municipal companies.

At some point, annoyed by the fuss made by Badulescu, Nicusor Dan has put his hand on his opponent’s shoulder, slightly pushing him, saying: “Get out of here , sir“, with the deputy mayor replying that Dan is pushing him “with an out of place violence”. “Barna left you and you went to PNL”, Badulescu added.

USR, PNL leaders react

PNL chairman, PM Ludovi Orban said that deputy mayor Badulescu had been sent there by mayor Gabriela Firea to cause a fuss. “They disqualified themselves, they proved they don’t care about Bucharesters, their only goal is to shin-kick those who tell the truth about the PSD catastrophic administration in the Capital”, said Orban.

USR chairman Dan Barna has also reacted to the incident, stating that it is an unprecedented event throygh its stupidity and violence. “The Bucharest’s trolls administration proved that it is a bunch of hooligans that have seized the city and which must be immediately removed”.