Political analyst Igor Botan, who is a member of the initiative group that on May 3 mounted a large-scale protest in the center of Chisinau, said the people can show their revolt against a corrupt government in a correct, peaceful and constitutional way only by being active. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, he said he expects that the Platform “Dignity and Truth” will be active for a very long time, while its key message is that it wants to transform the people into citizens, IPN reports.
“A lot of people accepted the invitation of the Platform “Dignity and Truth” to come to this protest, realizing that those who promised to bring Moldova closer to Europe and to combat poverty started to do entirely unexpected things, like stealing. I think the last drop was this story about the stolen US$1billion. It’s important that the people be able to express themselves peacefully, legally and constitutionally and show this government that it won’t do like this,” said the analyst.
Igor Botan noted that he speaks in his own name and his goal is to show other people that only by being active, can they express their revolt against a corrupt government in a correct, peaceful and constitutional way. “Our expectations are that the platform will be active for a very long time. Our key message is that we want to transform the people into citizens. At the moment we have several demands: to clarify the stealing of money; to say it clearly if the stolen money will be transformed by those involved into state debt that the people will have to repay and if this will stop the normal development of Moldova,” noted Igor Botan.
Asked if more such protests will be staged, Igor Botan said they will probably held such events, but only after the Platform’s official documents are in order so that Moldova’s people and the country’s foreign partners have the clearest image of its goals and realize that it is an exclusively civic organization, that there are no obscure, political or any other kinds of forces behind it and that its only goal is to transform the people into citizens.
The analyst also said that after all the official documents are made public, they will probably make statements to separate themselves from groups that disseminate other messages than the platform’s messages defined in its agenda. “Nobody bans other groups pursuing political goals from taking part, but we must delimit things and show that for now we insist on fighting corruption, which is the smallest common thing and the greatest evil in Moldova, and on removing the corrupt politicians by peaceful and absolutely constitutional ways. So, a lot of work is to be done. We understand that the responsibility we assume is very great. But we now see no other solutions,” he stated.
More than 40,000 people took part in a protest against the corrupt government, large-scale thefts and the transformation of the stolen money into state debt and against the politically controlled media in the Great National Assembly Square of Chisinau on May 3. The event was organized by the Civic Platform “Dignity and Truth”.
