Moldova braces for another protest on September 13
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 11 September 2015 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Moldova braces for another protest on September 13, 11 September 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/561d044715.html [accessed 3 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
September 11, 2015
By RFE/RL's Moldovan Service
Chisinau protesters have set up about 250 tents, vowing not to go home until their demands are met.
Leaders of the Dignity and Truth civic movement in Moldova are calling for a mass rally in the center of Chisinau on September 13.
The protest will come one week after the movement brought tens of thousands of Moldovans frustrated with rampant corruption into the streets on September 6. It was the largest protest in the country's post-Soviet history.
Since then, protesters have set up about 250 tents, vowing not to go home until their demands are met.
Dignity and Truth is calling for the resignations of President Nicolae Timofti and the heads of several state anticorruption bodies. It is also calling for early parliamentary elections to be held in March.
One of Dignity and Truth's leaders, Vasile Nastase, told Interfax they will continue calling for demonstrations each weekend into the foreseeable future.
Protest organizers met on September 10 with Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet and repeated their demand for the government's resignation and the formation of "a new political class."
Strelet rejected the call, but expressed a willingness to negotiate with protesters on their nonpolitical concerns, including recent rate hikes for electricity and the probe into a 2014 banking scandal in which more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) disappeared from the state treasury.
According to some reports in Moldova, Dignity and Truth leaders might use the September 13 rally to discuss the transformation of the movement into a political party.
Gheorghe Slutu, a protest organizer who is directing security for the tent city, said about 600 people are remaining on the square at all times.
Another protest security official, former Interior Ministry spokesman Chiril Motpan, said there were five "provocation attempts" in the last 24 hours targeting protesters at the camp.
With reporting by Interfax
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