The peaceful protests in Romania in support of the founder of the Mobile Emergency and Reanimation Service Raed Arafat yesterday evening degenerated in the University Square and Bratianu Blvd. in Bucharest. The protesters threw petards at the police, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the website of Mediafax Agency. Some of the protesters threw burning torches, stones and other objects on the boulevard and at the gendarmerie. A person who caught fire was saved by people around him. The police responded with tear gas and evacuated the people from the square. The protesters found refuge in the Old Center and the Youth quarter. According to the information provided by the Mbile Emergency and Reanimation Service and the Bucharest Ambulance Service - Ilfov, 51 persons received medical care, while 19 were taken to the hospital, including four police officers. The protests started last Thursday following the dismissal of Raed Arafat after he criticized a controversial bill to reform the sanitary system. Prime Minister Emil Boc was quoted by Mediafax as saying that the former state sub-secretary in the Ministry of Health, Raed Arafat, can return to the Ministry or take part in the drafting of the new bill on healthcare within a commission that will be set up for the purpose, if he wants to. The protests extended to smaller towns like Cluj, Timisoara, Iasi, Satu Mare, Alba Iulia, Tirgu Mures. The protesters demand that President Train Basescu and the Government should resign and that a fair health system be created. They also demand increasing the budget for education to 6% of the GDP and raising the pensions and salaries.