About 70,000 people came yesterday together in central Chisinau on the fifth week of antigovernment protests. They demand that the government and President Maia Sandu should resign and snap parliamentary and presidential elections should be held. As they were unable to get to the central square of Chisinau, the demonstrators protested near the monument to ruler Stephan the Great and Holy, coming along Mitropolit Bănulescu-Bodoni St, IPN reports, quoting a press release issued by the Shor Party.

The head of Orhei district Dinu Țurcanu accused the government of abuse against the people who were pushed into poverty. “God made so that we enjoy a pleasant weather and this means that justice is on our side,” stated Dinu Țurcanu, who also said the prayer “Our Father”.

Communist MP Constantin Starîș criticized the government for hiding behind the police that are paid with people’s money.

The mayor of Orhei municipality Pavel Verejanu reproached the PAS government for ignoring the people and for being preoccupied with geopolitics.

The mayor of Piatra commune of Orhei district Radu Bușilă noted that the Republic of Moldova is among the countries with the highest price increases in the world.

According to the organizers, four opposition parties formed the National Salvation Committee (NSC) that consists of the leaders of the opposition parties, representatives of civil society and professionals from different areas. “Their duty is to offer the citizens an alternative to the government as the current administration of the state is no longer legal and representative. The administration of the NSC will consist of the president of the Shor Party Ilan Shor, MP Marina Tauber, vice president of the Shor Party, Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, president of the Party “Build Europe at Home”, the head of Orhei district Dinu Țurcanu, the mayor of Piatra commune of Orhei district Radu Bușilă, Communist MP Constantin Starîș, the head of the Party “Renaissance-Vozrozhdenie” Sergei Mișin.” The participants in the protest adopted a resolution by which they explained the reasons for founding the Committee.

A cordon of carabineers and police officers hindered the protesters from reaching the Great National Assembly Square and from blocking the area. The police didn’t provide information about the number of participants in Sunday’s protest. The authorities also didn’t comment on protesters’ demands.

According to the press release, the leader of the national protest Dinu Țurcanu said that the next antigovernment protest will be staged in the Great National Assembly Square on October 23.

In connection with the terminology used by the speakers in the protest, IPN News Agency recommends reading the interview entitled “Valentin Constantinov: Dictators care only about personal power” that was published today. Also, to better understand the current antigovernment protests, IPN News Agency announces a public debate entitled “Antigovernment protests: motives, demands, players, actions and effects” that is the 264th series of the project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”. The debate starts at 11:15am on October 17.