CHISINAU, September 30. /TASS/. Demonstrators in Moldova's capital Chisinau have vowed to enter the parliament building if deputies continue to ignore their calls for the government’s resignation and early elections after a $1 billion banking scandal.
The leader of Moldova’s opposition Party of Socialists, Igor Dodon, said after a meeting of parliamentary commissions on Wednesday: "We will come not alone to the next meeting, but together with protesters so that citizens could personally demand from deputies that the heads of government agencies be dismissed."
"These are people’s sentiments," Dodon wrote on his Facebook page.
At all parliamentary commissions on Wednesday, Socialists insisted on the dismissal of top government officials allegedly responsible for the disappearance of the cash from the country's banks. These include heads of the prosecutor general’s office, the Information and Security Service, the Supreme Court of Justice, the National Anti-Corruption Center, the Audit Chamber, the Central Election Commission, the Coordination Council on Television and Radio and the Moldova 1 national television station.
"These are protesters’ demands. But these projects have not been on the agenda. That’s why we have left the parliamentary commissions’ sessions as a mark of protest," Dodon added.
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Protests in Moldova
Last Sunday, Moldova’s Socialists alongside Our Party staged a mass rally in Chisinau’s national square. They called Nicolae Timofti a "puppet" president and leaders of the ruling Alliance for European Integration "chief oligarchs".
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched down the capital's central boulevard to parliament demanding the resignation of President Timofti and other officials alongside early parliamentary elections.
Demonstrators said they were giving the government time before Friday evening to begin responding to their demands.
The centre of Chisinau is now divided between supporters of the civic platform Dignity and Justice (DA), who have erected hundreds of tents in the city’s main square, and Moldova’s left-wing Party of Socialists and Our Party members camping out near parliament and agriculture ministry buildings.
Many demonstrators stayed camped out in the city centre since an anti-corruption protest led by the Dignity and Justice movement on September 6.
The leaders of Dignity and Justice, many of whom are journalists, lawyers and other public figures in Moldova, have put forward the same demands as supporters of the Party of Socialists and Our Party, but while protesting under the European Union flag, they refuse to unite with the left-wing groups.