Patriot socks ads to be removed from Chisinau streets

Billboards depicting a variety of socks with national symbols on them, branded “Patriot”, will be removed from Chisinau's streets. Gheorghe Tofan, division head at the General Architecture Department, told Info-Prim Neo that the company placed the ads illegally, without the City Hall’s approval. “The image wasn’t coordinated with us, and the company was asked to remove the publicity urgently, but ignored our request. Now we have to remove it forcibly, with the help of law enforcement agents. We don’t have any other ways of punishing them”, said Tofan. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, MP Victor Popa, chair of the Parliamernt's Legal Commission, said that the business will face a 20 to 300 conventional units fine for improper use of state symbols. Several billboards have recently appeared on the capital’s streets which display state symbols on socks from a local producer, namely the tricolor flag and the Moldovan coat of arms. The company’s actions are under the scope of two laws: The Code of Administrative Offenses and the Law on the State Flag.