“Defend the people, not the usurper” and “Down with the dictatorship” chanted members of the National Resistance Movement ACUM, who staged a flashmob meeting at the Ministry of the Interior early in the morning of July 9. Afterward, the demonstrators went to the Chisinau City Hall where they demanded that the works to demolish the Gaudeamus Cinema should be stopped and that deputy mayors Nistor Grozavu and Ruslan Codreanu should resign, IPN reports.
The leader of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” Andrei Nastase, whose election as mayor of Chisinau was invalidated, said the event was held at the Ministry of the Interior in order to tell the representatives of the police that they should be near the citizens and should not guard the property of the Democratic leader Vlad Phatohniuc and the PDM’s head office during protests. “We will continue these activities so as to tell our police officers that it’s time to stop defending the dictator and to start to defend the people. They should no longer defend an usurper who wants to be a dictator,” stated Andrei Nastase.
“We ask you to follow us, to read us and to listen to us as during the next few days we will make announcements about our further activities as it is important to struggle till the end and to defend our rights. We are encouraged to continue to seek rights,” said the leader of the Party “Action and Solidarity” Maia Sandu.
Anatolie Postica, head of the Internal Protection and Anticorruption Service of the Ministry of the Interior, said the police officers are on duty when they are assigned to maintain public order. “We will never limit the people in their rights to protest and to state their opinions. But the employees of the Ministry of the Interior are on duty. They are obliged to maintain public order and should do it no matter who holds the political power,” he stated.
After demonstrating at the Ministry of the Interior, the people went to the Chisinau City Hall where they asked that deputy mayors Nistor Grozavu and Ruslan Codreanu should leave because they safeguard the interests of the leader of the PDM Vlad Plahotniuc in Chisinau. Later they registered an application signed by 70 inhabitants of Chisinau by which these demand to stop the construction of an apartment building instead of the Gaudeamus Cinema.
The National Resistance Movement ACUM was created in reaction to the decision to invalidate the early mayoral elections held in Chisinau and is led by heavyweights of the PAS, PPPDA and PLDM and by representatives of civil society.
