BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people gathered in Romania's capital on Friday for a pro-European Union march. It came a week before the final vote of a closely watched presidential election that pits a hard-right nationalist front-runner against the capital’s pro-EU mayor.
Marchers converged in Bucharest in front of the government building, where many waved the blue and yellow flags of Europe. Many chanted slogans such as “We are in Europe” and “Bucharest is not Budapest,” referring to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a member but also a longtime critic of the EU.
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A woman holding a Romanian flag shines the light of her mobile phone as she stands under a large European Union flag during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
People shine the lights of their mobile phones standing under a large European Union during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Demonstrators hold large Romanian and European Union flags during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A man with Romanian and European Union flags draped over his shoulders waves in front of a large EU flag, during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A communist country until 1989, Romania joined the EU in 2007. But last year it was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades when a top court voided the previous election. The far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.
The rally was held nearly a week after the first round of a presidential election redo that saw hard-right nationalist George Simion, 38, emerge as the front-runner. In second place was 55-year-old incumbent Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan.
“We need to develop … we want to be like the best countries, and we don’t have the possibilities on our own,” said Stefan Gheorghe, a 23-year-old lawyer. “You need the European Union to help us out. It is very important to us to stay together … and to benefit from each other.”
A median of polls ahead of the runoff suggests Simion holds a lead in the vote, which will be held between the two staunchly antiestablishment candidates on May 18. Observers have warned that the outcome could reshape the EU and NATO member country’s geopolitical direction.
After reaching second place on Sunday night, Dan called the final vote a choice “between a pro-Western direction for Romania and an anti-Western one.”
Simion’s critics have long accused him of being Russia-friendly and warn that his presidency would undermine both the EU and NATO as Moscow’s war drags on in Ukraine. But in an interview with The Associated Press this week, Simion rejected the accusations and said, “It’s not for the good of the Romanian people to be close to Russia."
“We want to be a member of the European Union. Some fake news were saying that we want to exit the European project,” said Simion, who leads Romania's second-largest party, the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians. “We don’t want to leave. We are here to stay. We invested a lot.”
Simion, who came fourth in last year’s race and later backed Georgescu, said in an earlier interview with the AP that he wants to see "more power" go to the bloc’s 27 individual members, “not toward the European institutions.”
Similar rallies were held in several cities across Romania on Friday to mark Europe Day, a date that proclaims to celebrate peace and unity in Europe.
Although Simion and Dan are ideological opposites, they both made their political careers railing against Romania’s old political class, which has fallen out of favor as strong antiestablishment sentiment among voters grips the country.
For Diana Draghici, 38, the upcoming runoff will be a pivotal moment for Romania’s future and a choice between forging stronger EU ties or potentially shifting East.
“I think it’s important that the young people who were undecided and didn’t vote so far ... to have a wake-up call and choose who they want to have represented,” she said. “It could decide two extremely different scenarios for Romania’s future.”
A woman holding a Romanian flag shines the light of her mobile phone as she stands under a large European Union flag during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
People shine the lights of their mobile phones standing under a large European Union during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Demonstrators hold large Romanian and European Union flags during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A man with Romanian and European Union flags draped over his shoulders waves in front of a large EU flag, during a pro-EU rally ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
