10,000 marchers to call for unification with Romania on September 16

Over 10,000 people will come out on September 16 on the streets of Chisinau to join a march organized by the Civic Platform “Action 2012” to support the idea of Moldova's unification with Romania, Info-Prim Neo reports. Constantin Codreanu, Action 2012 representative, said at a Wednesday news conference that the Action 2012 members and supporters are non-violent, law-abiding citizens and that they will try by all means to avoid conflicts in the street. “We don’t struggle for the annulment of Moldova’s statehood, but for its prosperity through re-unification with Romania. It is sad that after 22 years from the proclamation of independence, we have to fear to come out on streets, to express our options, whichever those may be. We've become apprehensive about expressing ourselves freely, just like our parents feared when they had to whisper in the kitchen about their aspirations”, said Codreanu. In his opinion, there are many people who call themselves patriots but when it comes to action, they’re quite the opposite. “We want to live in a different country. We don’t want to live in Voronin’s country, who promises soviet chimeras about 2 ruble sausage and 16 kopek bread. We don’t want to live in the country of Selin, who organizes gangs of hooligans and rewards them with beer. He is proud of that and says it publicly. We don’t want to live in the country of Dodon, who receives his orders from Moscow by fax and we don’t want to live in the country of Stepaniuc, who congratulates the hooligans for their actions. We don’t want to live in Formuzal’s country either. He who threatens to take his Gagauzians and break away if he gets upset, instead of taking care of Gagauzia, the poorest region in the country.”, added Constantin Codreanu. Elena Podoleanu, member of the Action 2012 Platform, said that the Chisinau City Hall came with the proposal of modifying the march’s route. The alternate route starts from the Moldovan Academy of Sciences on the central avenue. Even though the march was originally to come at a stop at the National Opera Square, because of the counter-demonstration organized by Action 2012’s opponents, they will only be able to walk up to the Great National Assembly Square. “We agree to adjust the route of our march to avoid any sort of confrontation. The only confrontation that we salute and encourage is that of ideas”, said Elena Podoleanu. At least two parties, the Communists and the Socialists, requested the authorities to forbid the pro-unification march.