The protest movement in the Republic of Moldova took in time different shapes – from peaceful demonstrations with white flowers and tricolor flags to mass violence and even victims. The Great National Assembly of August 27, 1991, which mobilized the largest part of the population to defend democracy and the national values, was the broadest form of demonstration since the declaration of independence. IPN put the main protests mounted until now on its list of Symbols of Independence.
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Over 700,000 people of the population of 4.5 million gathered together in the Great National Assembly Square on August 27, 1991 and imposed their will to be independent from the former Soviet metropolis, while Parliament that came together for a meeting practically implemented the Assembly’s decision.
During January 9 – April 29, 2002, the Christian Democratic People’s Party (PPCD) mounted nonstop protests against the Communist government in the Great National Assembly Square of Chisinau. It set up a tent town called the Freedom Town. The protests were triggered by the order of the then minister of education concerning the mandatory studying of Russian in schools starting with the second grade.
In November 2003, on the initiative of the parliamentary group of the PPCD, there was constituted the Committee for the Defense of Moldova’s Independence and Constitution. This consisted of representatives of the Democratic parties and civil society, who proposed solutions to the Transnistrian conflict, in accordance with the Constitution and the international law norms. The Committee also organized large protests where they demanded that the Communist government should not sign the so-called “Kozak Memorandum” promoted by Russia, which envisioned, among other proposals for settling the Transnistrian conflict, the legalization of the stay of Russian troops on Moldova’s territory for a period of 20 years. Communist President Vladimir Voronin was close to signing the document, but ultimately changed his mind.
The protests of April 6-7, 2009 represented a series of mass demonstrations against the results of the April 5 parliamentary elections. After the Central Election Commission published the first official results, according to which the ruling Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova won a majority of seats in Parliament for the third consecutive time, calls to protest were made through the Internet and social networking sites. These intensified when a number of parties joined the protest. On April 7, over 30,000 people who supported the opposition took to the streets in Chisinau to challenge the Communists’ victory in election, chanting “We want the elections to be rerun” and “Down with the Communists”.
Also on April 7, the peaceful protests degenerated into violence that ended with the destruction of the Parliament Building and the Presidential Building, arrests and victims. The attempts made to investigate the circumstances and to identify the organizers of the violent acts failed both during the Communist government and later, after several coalitions that declared themselves Democratic took over.
The demonstrations of 2015–2016 represented a continuous protest against the socioeconomic situation in the Republic of Moldova, which got a clearer shape in 2015 and was worsened by the financial-banking scandal known as “the theft of the century”. There were held nonstop protests with tents pitched in central Chisinau and periodic peaceful demonstrations that tended to decline. After the Filip Government was invested in January 2016, the street protests intensified. In response to the banking fraud of about US$ 1 billion, the EU, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank stopped the financial assistance intended for the Republic of Moldova.
The scandal related to the “theft of the century” appeared when the National Bank of Moldova determined that three financial-banking institutions of Chisinau, which accounted for about one third of the country’s banking assets, provided loans to the total value of US$ 1 billion or 15% of Moldova’s GDP. The “discovery” was made public shortly after the parliamentary elections of the end of 2014.
Ex-Premier Vlad Filat, who led the most important party of the ruling coalition, was among those accused of benefiting from the bank fraud. He was arrested on October 15, 2015 following self-denouncing statements made by businessman Ilan Shor. It is the first and only arrest that ended with a definitive conviction sentence among high-ranking officials during the whole period of Independence. On June 27, 2016, Vlad Filat was sentenced to nine years in jail for passive corruption and influence peddling and a part of his property was confiscated.
Also for the first time, an ex-MP was recently arrested and convicted of treason and espionage in favor of Russia. And also for the first time, the most influential mayor of the country – Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Cirtoaca – was arrested and is investigated for influence peddling and passive corruption. The arrests and convictions affected also ministers and deputy ministers, police chiefs, lawyers and other persons with responsible posts. “The conclusion that on the 26th year of independence Moldova launched the process of cleaning the political class and society in general would have been tempting if there hadn’t been reasonable suspicions about selective justice in the interests of groups of interests. The closed trial of ex-Premier Filat in all the national courts is a sign that could confirm these suspicions,” concluded IPN.
