The International Roma Day was celebrated in Chisinau by a special concert, but also by a protest march against the authorities’ indifference towards the low social status and poor financial condition of Roma people in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. Nicolae Raditsa, the president of the National Roma Center of Moldova and one of the rally’s organizers, has complained the representatives of this minority have little access to education, to public services, to public decision-making, while being largely discriminated against by the society. Raditsa has voiced his regret that there are no laws to punish discrimination and abuses against Roma people, asking the government for help in forming a positive image of this ethnicity among the Moldovan society. Nicolae Raditsa also informed he sent a letter to Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, Speaker Marian Lupu and Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii asking them to consider joining the Decade of Roma Inclusion covering the period 2005-2015. The protesters also demanded that the authorities allocate money to enforce a Government ordinance issued in 2006, which provided for better living conditions for the Roma people. The rally participants said they were out in the streets to defend their and their children’s rights, including to education and a decent job. The teenagers attending complained of discriminatory behaviors against them at school, where they get insults from their classmates and bad marks from teachers. The protesters held sloganed posters and waved flags. “We want equal rights. We also want a flag of our own. The blue color symbolizes the sky. In the lower part – the green color – represents the grass, and in the middle, you cans see a twelve-spoked wheel – this stands for freedom”, one of the protesters said. Reaching the Moldovan Bureau for Interethnic Relations, where other Roma people were celebrating the International Roma Day, the protesters refused to join, accusing the leadership of the bureau of inefficiency in solving the problems of their people.