“The neo-communist regime of 1994 (the Agrarians) was quite antipathetic to the Tricolor and other national symbols, while the communist one reviled them openly. The second come-back of the national symbols, 20 years on, is due the real democratic transformations occurring in the country”, stated Deputy Prime Minister Ion Negrei at a conference held on Friday by the Moldovan Academy of Sciences and dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the erection of the National Flag, Info-Prim Neo reports. Author Nicolae Dabija thinks that the “harassment of the national symbols” has influenced the national consciousness and has determined the changes taking place today. “Ex-President Vladimir Voronin said our flag was a fascist flag. But this flag has accompanied our history and has been ours for centuries. As long as we have our Tricolor, we'll be a viable nation”, declared Nicolae Dabija. Gheorghe Ghimpu, the late brother of the acting president Mihai Ghimpu, was the one who, on 27 April 1990, took down the Soviet flag from the top of the Parliament's building and raised the blue-yellow-red Tricolor in its place. Half a year later the Moldovan authorities adopted the national coat of arms on the Tricolor. “The flag, the anthem, the coat of arms, the seal and the national currency are indispensable attributes of statehood. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, all the republics, including Russia, adopted new symbols, in accordance with their national and historical traditions. The same was done in Moldova”, said graphic artist Gheorghe Vrabie, the author of the national coat of arms and national currency. Silviu Tabac, the chairman of the Genealogy and Heraldry Society “Paul Gore”, said the blue-yellow-red tricolor emerged as a national symbol in 1848, when a group of Romanian students in France wished to join the age of revolutions. During the reign of Carol I the Tricolor was adopted as the national flag of all Romanians. In January 1941, 30 students at the lyceum Vasile Lupu in Orhei alongside their principal, Ion Mahu, were executed for erecting the Tricolor atop a number of government buildings, including the NKVD. The same year, 4 young men were shot for doing the same thing in Ocnita. In 1965, a repairman named Gheorghe Murziuc from Balti raised the Tricolor atop a sugar plant and was sentenced to a heavy prison term, said the conference participants. Grigore Vieru, the famous poet, was also punished for promoting the Tricolor. In his book “The Three Kids” there was a poem which depicted the rainbow in red, yellow and blue. The book was removed from bookshops and burned. The Moldovan Parliament voted today for instituting April 27 as an annual observance of the National Flag, Info-Prim Neo reports.