Protests continue across Romania, as hundreds gather in the capital city Bucharest and in about 40 other cities, calling for President Traian Basescu’s resignation and denouncing the government’s austerity measures and systemic corruption, according to MSNBC.

Romania's economy shrunk more than 7 percent in 2009, and the country needed an International Monetary Fund bail-out to pay its public sector wages. To qualify for another installment of the IMF loan, Romania agreed to implement new austerity measures, including a 25 percent cut in public wages.

The cuts were characterized as “brutal and unthinkable in a West European country” by Andreas Treichl, the president of Austria's Erste Group, the largest foreign investor in the Romanian banking sector.

Officials said about 13,000 protesters hit the streets across the country since last Friday.

Opposition parties tried to capitalize on the protests, demanding early elections, but protests remain apolitical for now. A protest march led by the opposition is now scheduled for Thursday, January 19.

An IMF mission coming to Romania to review the country’s loan deal is still on schedule for January 25