Thousands of protesters demand in Moldova resignation of ‘mafia’ government
PUBLISHED : Monday, 07 September, 2015, 1:40pm
UPDATED : Monday, 07 September, 2015, 1:40pm
The Guardian in Moscow, Russia
Thousands of people attend a protest demanding the dismissal of several public servants, the president, speaker and prime minister and the return of stolen money from banks. Photo: EPA
Several protesters have been detained after tens of thousands of protesters in Moldova took to the streets of the capital to demand the dissolution of the new government following corruption scandals.
Demonstrators assembled on Great National Assembly Square in downtown Chiinu on Sunday to call for the resignation of the president, Nicolae Timofti, early elections and punishment for those responsible for widespread embezzlement. Organisers claimed 100,000 people had attended the demonstrations, while police put the number at 35,000-40,000. The protest is the largest such action in the former Soviet republic, which has been one of the poorest countries in Europe since its independence movement in the early 1990s.
Clashes broke out with police at the prosecutor general’s headquarters, where activists attempted to set up an occupy-style tent encampment. Opposition leaders have accused the prosecutor general of being an instrument of political persecution. Police detained several activists, several were injured and one woman was hospitalised, news agency Interfax reported.
Tents were set up on the square, with activists tweeting that they intended to stay there until the government was dissolved .
Some Russian and Ukrainian media outlets called the protests a “Maidan”, referring to the colloquial name of the months-long demonstrations in Kiev that ousted president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 and led a standoff between Russia and the west. Like Ukraine, Moldova has ties to both the EU and Russia, where many of its citizens work, but has moved toward European integration in recent years.
Moldova’s parliament narrowly elected Valeriu Strelet as prime minister in July amid increasing political turbulence. Thousands protested in May after $1billion - equivalent to one eighth of the country’s budget - disappeared from three banks through mysterious loans . The International Monetary Fund and World Bank stopped lending to Moldova after the incident, and the return of the $1billion remains a key demand of the current protests.
Strelet’s government has pledged to move the country toward EU membership and hold those responsible for the bank theft to account, but the opposition movement has accused it of not undertaking reforms in good faith. It also has blamed powerful oligarchs for wielding inordinate influence over the country’s economy and politics.
Strelet was forced to meet with a contact group from the protestors, inviting them to further negotiations and promising to pass along their request to meet with the president.
Valentin Dolganyuk, a former MP and one of the protest leaders, declared that the demonstrators “cannot bear the authorities’ mockery of the country” and would seek to kick corrupt oligarchs out of power, Korrespondent.net reported.
Footage from the scene in Chiinu showed demonstrators waving Moldovan, Romanian and EU flags while chanting “Resign!”, “We are the people!”and “Down with the mafia!”
Regional pop stars have also been drawn into the standoff between protestors and the government. On Thursday, a free open-air concert in Chiinu was announced in a move that many saw as an attempt to draw people away from the planned anti-oligarch protest. Several Moldovan, Romanian and Russian performers refused to attend what many had dubbed a “mafia concert”.
