The Opposition counterattacks

The Opposition parties vehemently deny that they staged the April 7 protests in the center of Chisinau and say that the Communist authorities bear overall responsibility for the acts of violence. They demand creating a commission that would investigate the April 7 events and identify the real organizers, Info-Prim Neo reports On April 7, the three Democratic parties that entered the new Parliament – the Liberal Party (PL), the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) – issued a joint statement against the rigging of the parliamentary elections by the Communist Parry (PCRM). The three parties demand that the votes are re-counted and that the electoral registers are verified. The leaders of the PLDM and AMN held separate news conference on Wednesday, condemning the acts of vandalism and the devastation of the buildings of the Presidential Office and Parliament by a part of the protesters. Both Vlad Filat and Serafim Urecheanu said that the acts were provoked by the Communist authorities in order to distract the attention of the national and international opinion from the vote rigging. “At this stage, the Communists won the game. They managed to divert the attention from the vote rigging to discussions about the devastation of the Parliament and Presidential Office,” Vlad Filat said. “The protests were organized and supported by the party of Vladimir Voronin and he bears overall responsibility for the happenings. Only he is interested in destabilizing the situation in the country and establishing dictatorship,” said Serafim Urecheanu. Vlad Filat and Serafim Urecheanu described the accusations that the PL, PLDM and AMN staged a putsch made by the PCRM leader Vladimir Voronin as irresponsible, manipulative and speculative. The two leaders said that they joined the protests organized by the young people spontaneously and tried to do what the authorities did not do – to clam the crowd down. They said that the police provoked the acts of violence in front of the Parliament and Presidential Office and then pulled out and left the two institutions to be ravaged by a group of young, aggressive and drunk provokers that were not students. Filat and Urecheanu inquired why the police did not intervene to calm these persons down and why the building of the Presidential Office was devastated, but Vladimir Voronin’s office remained untouched. According to Urecheanu, the provokers included young persons that have been recently amnestied by presidential decree. The two leaders also said that they saw members of the youth organization “New Generation” of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (PPCD) in the front rows of protesters. The PPCD president Iurie Rosca denied that members of the party had participated in the devastation of the Parliament and Presidential Office. If it turns out that they were involved, they will be excluded from the party, Iurie Rosca told a news conference. According to Rosca, the Parliament and Presidential Office could be vandalized because the wide protests took the authorities by surprise. Rosca said that “criminals like Urecheanu, Filat, Chirtoaca and others incited young persons and teens to violence, hiding behind bushes irresponsibly.” PPCD leader considers that the protests were staged by Russian forces and the former President of Moldova Petru Lucinschi. At the same time, Moldova’s President and the leader of PCRM Vladimir Voronin accused Romania or organizing the protests. Romania’s Ambassador in Chisinau Filip Teodorescu and minister-consultant Ioan Gaborean were declared persona non grata on April 8. A visa regime for Romanians will be introduced on April 9. “Voronin always blames the Romanians, while Rosca – the Russians,” the AMN leader said, stressing that the expelling of the Romanian Ambassador was a continuation of Voronin’s diplomatic war against Romania.