Moldovan Roma to stage protest march
Moldovan Roma will march on Chisinau streets on Tuesday, April 8. The Roma National Center has issued a communiqué reading they will protest against the authorities’ indifference regarding the gypsies’ precarious social and economic conditions.
The organizers expect to be joined by more than 100 people. The march is scheduled from 11.00 to 14.00, on a route between Opera and Ballet Theater - Ştefan cel Mare şi Sfânt Blvd - Sfatul Ţării str. and Alexei Mateevici str., 109/1.
They complain there is no access to drinking water in Roma communities. Their households are often disconnected from power; they are violently treated by police. The discrimination is a phenomenon often met in schools, medical institutions and other public places. Men cannot find jobs, the elderly receive no assistance or pension, while the children don’t go to school or abandon it, reads the release.
The Roma National Center announces it will hand a letter to the central public authorities, asking the Government to take measures to better Roma’s conditions and allow them to participate in the process of taking decisions.
According to the organizers, the march is dedicated April 8, known as Roma’s International Day, declared by the Roma International Union at its first congress in 1971, in London.