CHISINAU - Protestors in the Moldovan capital have booked Great National Assembly Square for the holding of protests from Sept. 5-30, says Andrej Nestase, who chairs the opposition Council of the Great National Assembly.
“We submitted the relevant application to the Chisinau City Hall in May this year and had it confirmed on September 1. The next rally that was expected to take place in the square is some transparency event by the Interior Ministry. The event was slated for September 13 but it has been canceled. On that day, on Sunday, a new mass manifestation will take place to reaffirm our demands to the authorities. We don’t see other obstacles, we will stand here, on the square, regardless of what comes into the head of Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca,” Nestase told a press conference on Sept. 10.
Protestors are serious about their demands, including the resignation of the country’s leaders, he said.
“At the same time, we are open to a dialogue so as to remind the authorities every time about our demands. Today we met with Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet who said he is not stepping down despite the public mistrust that you are seeing here, in the square,” Nestase said.
“Well, we know anyway that our country’s leaders and our people live in parallel worlds. Let us see what Parliamentary Speaker Andrian Candu tells us at the meeting due at 3 p.m. We have decided our agenda,” the opposition activist said.
These words were met with howls of approval among the people in the square.
On September 6, several tens of thousands of people held the largest protest of the past few years in central Chisinau. They approved a resolution demanding early parliamentary elections, the resignation of the president and the government, a presidential election by national popular vote, the replacement of senior security and defense officials, and the return of one billion euros stolen from the banking system. The president and the prime minister said they are not going to resign.
The demonstrators decided to continue the protest non-stop. They set up tents in Great National Assembly square and called the camp the ‘City of Dignity and Justice’. The camp numbers over 300 tents.
