Interior Ministry urges pensioners to postpone protests

Minister of the Interior Victor Catan called on the pensioners to postpone the protests against the rise in water and sewerage charges and bus and trolleybus fares scheduled for October 8, when the CIS summit opens in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. The pensioners and other persons dissatisfied with the rise in tariffs protested in front of the Chisinau City Hall during four days. They blocked movement along Stephan the Great Blvd. during the first two days. They interrupted the protests on October 2, but promised to resume them on October 8. In a news conference on Wednesday, Catan said that he is in favor of peaceful protests as they are a constitutional right. The Ministry of the Interior asked the City Hall to issue an ordinance, recommending the protesters to hold the protests not in front of the City Hall, but in some other place. “These protests should be postponed as even the peaceful protests can be used to destabilize the situation. The protest organizers will not be able to hinder the infiltration of criminal individuals among the protesters. Who will bear responsibility then? I do not want that the protesters and young persons become victims of criminals and provokers as it happened in April,” Catan said.