Simultaneous protest meeting of patentees to take place in March

A simultaneous protest meeting, organised by patent holders as a respond to the Law no. 208, will take place on March 5 in all the towns and raions of Moldova. Eugen Roscovanu the head of the Small Business Association (AMB) told a press conference on Wednesday, February 14, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Rosovanu, at the moment Moldova is about to face a serious social crisis. Those more than 5000 participants in the protest meeting on February 12 decided to organise a series of protests till the Law amending the activity of patent holders is annulled. The law leaves tens of thousands of poor people without financial means and favours the oligarchs’ clan. Protest committees have been created in practically each marketplace in Moldova. Committees intend to organise various protest actions. Roscovanu affirms that the government’s interest to remove the small businessmen from the market, including local producers, represents an attempt of some oligarchs to monopolise the import of goods, create a network of supermarkets and sell products at excessive prices. The cited source asserts that protesters solicited the Parliamentary factions to initiate consultations with the decision makers in order to find solutions for the patent crisis, but neither the opposition, nor the government coalition reacted at the request. According to the leader of the Committee for Defence of Citizens’ Rights, Eduard Muşuc, the promises made by the Government and Parliament are unreal, because these people form the poorest strata of population and cannot afford the “luxury” to create an individual enterprise with a bookkeeper, to pay tens of taxes, purchase a cash register for a sum of more than MDL 2000. Thus, people are forced to work on the black market or leave the country. Musuc says the majority of patentees are ready to stop working in the marketplaces, facing rain, frost or heat, if they would have been offered a workplace. However, at the moment, our state doesn’t propose them anything. According to Musuc, the tensioned situation in Moldova is camouflaged by the government, especially via the censorship at the public TV station “Moldova 1” and by the wrong information provided by the pro-communist station NIT. This argument is supported by the fact that both stations avoided to publicise any materials related to the meeting on February 12, which brought together more than 5000 people from the majority of raions. On Wednesday, organisers of the meeting sent a letter to the leadership of “Teleradio-Moldova” Company, the Broadcast Coordinating Council, European Council and OSCE. They expressed their protest against the obvious violation of citizens’ right to truthful information. The authors are insisting upon informing the public opinion about the requirements of the patentees. After the synchronized meeting, another meeting will be held on March 12, in Chisinau. Patent holders say that they will protest till the Law no. 208 is annulled.