Romanian-American citizens are expected to attend a demonstration in support of Romania’s suspended President Traian Basescu before Romania’s Consulate in the US city in the following days. Several web pages used as discussion forums by the Romanian community in New York suggest the demonstration is expected to bring together dozens of protesters.

Demonstration organizers say they expect Romanians living in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at the first such manifestation from a series that will continue until May 19, when a referendum will take place in Romania on the dismissal of popular President Traian Basescu.

Basescu was suspended by the Parliament in April over charges that he broke the letter of the Constitution on several accounts, despite a Constitutional Court consultative decision that he did not do so.

The Romanian community in the United States will have the opportunity to attend the May 19 referendum at 20 locations across the US, including Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Detroit and Las Vegas.

Some half a million Romanians live in the United States according to official data. Unofficial data place the number at about a million.