George Simion accuses Nicușor Dan of ordering Saturday's Georgescu rally blocked

The permit dispute

AUR is calling on the state to protect participants in a rally supporting Călin Georgescu, set for Saturday, 14 November, in the Izvor Park area beside the Parliament building in Bucharest. The gathering is scheduled for 13:00, with the protest to begin at 14:00. George Simion says the event was never approved, even though the Capital City Hall was notified twice, once by three participants in the protests outside the Central Arrest and once by musician Nicolae Voiculeț, a member of AUR's board at the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Mayor Ciprian Ciucu said on Thursday, 12 November, that he knew of no authorisation request filed by AUR. He said such requests are assessed by a commission of specialists that weighs safety risks, and he asked Simion to say where a request had been filed. Simion counters that the requests were filed by private individuals and were all rejected, and that AUR did not file one itself. The party says it mobilises its members but is not the organiser.

“I do not know whether I received any authorisation request from the AUR party.”

Simion says a court will hear the dispute on Friday afternoon to decide whether the City Hall reply amounts to a refusal. A violent AUR protest in December 2021 saw protesters break a gate and enter the Parliament courtyard, where a US embassy car was vandalised. Simion asked the state to ensure protection for participants and said he would join the rally himself after leaving Parliament.

Simion's accusations against the president

At a press conference in front of Parliament on Friday, 13 November, Simion accused President Nicușor Dan of lying and of ordering that no large rally for Georgescu be allowed. "Either Nicușor Dan is lying or I am, a third option does not exist," he said. Simion said Dan wanted Ilie Bolojan removed as prime minister and was directly involved in his dismissal, as well as in efforts to install Veștea as prime minister. The Bolojan government was dismissed on 5 May 2026 by a censure motion from PSD, AUR and PACE - Întâi România, which passed with 281 votes against the 233 needed. Simion also claimed Dan arranged the nomination of Siegfried Mureșan knowing it would fail, so that the current prime minister, Luca Niculescu, could later be proposed. Simion promised a chronology of these events and said the president had overstepped his role as mediator.

The president's response

Dan, speaking in Dublin at the European Political Community summit on Thursday, 12 November, was asked whether he had intervened to stop Saturday's protest. He answered no. When asked about Simion's remarks, Dan said:

“How many nonsense statements can one political leader make before we stop paying attention to him?”

Dan categorically denied the accusation, and the Presidential Administration had earlier rejected the claims Simion circulated. Simion has described the president's remarks as scandalous and said the president had gone beyond every limit.

What happens next

The court hearing is set for Friday afternoon, 13 November, and the rally is set for Saturday, 14 November, with gathering at 13:00 and the protest starting at 14:00 in front of Parliament. Simion said he would attend and join the crowd, and he asked that participants be guarded by gendarmes. Because the municipality has rejected the individual requests, whether the rally goes ahead as AUR describes it depends on how the court reads the City Hall reply.