The meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council scheduled for February 4 didn’t take place. The Socialist councilors were present in the hall, but announced that they will not take part in the meeting because the agenda includes too many land-related subjects. While supporters and councilors of the Party of Socialists started to give speeches from the rostrum, the councilors of the Liberal Party and the European People’s Party left the meeting hall. Simultaneously, a group of people mounted a protest against illegal constructions in Chisinau in front of the City Hall, IPN reports.

Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said the Council’s meeting cannot take place because the quorum was not present and because the access to the hall was blocked. There were only 25 councilors registered on the list, with the Socialist councilors refusing to take part in the meeting. As to the protest, the mayor stated that the documents regarding constructions were verified and it was established that all of them were issued in accordance with the law.

While residents of Chisinau protested against illegal constructions outside, alongside several Socialists, the Socialist councilors started to quarrel with Liberals in the lobby of the City Hall, blocking entrance to the meeting hall. Things calmed down when the leader of the Liberal group Ion Cebanu invited everyone to enter the hall.

The Liberal said that all the items from the agenda of the Council’s meeting were approved by the competent commissions, noting that a lot of important decisions cannot be taken because the meetings are boycotted, including those on the municipal budget.

For his part, the head of the Socialist group Ion Ceban said the Socialists didn’t take part in the meeting because it was set with a number of violations. The agenda included a lot of land-related issues at a time when the meeting should have mainly discussed the gas cylinder explosion in a café in Chisinau and the tariffs and salaries.