Angry Romanian investors demand compensation

Riot police in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, have used tear gas to break up hundreds of protestors who lost their savings when a government-backed investment fund failed.

The demonstrators, from all over the country, converged on the city to demand compensation for investments they lost when the government ordered the National Investment Fund to stop operating in late May.

A BBC correspondent says there were violent scenes earlier when a demonstrator on a bicycle was run over by a car, although the situation now appears to be calmer. The former chairman of Romania's national savings bank, Camenco Petrovic, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of abusing his powers, after he approved financial backing to the failed investment fund.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service