CHISINAU, October 12 /TASS/. The leaders of Moldova’s Civic Platform DA (Dignity and Truth) party have agreed to negotiate with the authorities.
The DA supporters have been rallying in the center of the Moldovan capital for a second month demanding the resignation of the Moldovan president and government.
Andrei Nastase, one of the DA’s leaders, told journalists on Monday that the first meeting with the authorities was scheduled for October 14.
"The Civic Platform’s representatives will take part in the meeting organized by the president, the parliament speaker and the prime minister on October 14. We intend to present our demands, which should be met immediately," Nastase said. He noted that a working group would be formed on Monday to work out all the documents necessary for calling a referendum, one of the DA’s main demands, on direct elections of the Moldovan president.
The center left opposition, which is also protesting in Chisinau, has refused from a dialogue with the authorities. The leaders of the Party of Socialists and Patria (Fatherland) Party, Igor Dodon and Renato Usatii, have promised to block parliament, which is gathering for the autumn session on October 15. They demand the resignation of Moldovan leadership and early elections. The authorities in turn threatened the center left activists who had blocked traffic on Chisinau’s central avenue on Monday morning with prosecution.
"Police fixed several violations made by the protesters who blocked the road traffic on Monday morning. Their actions can be classified as criminal under the country’s Penal Code. They may face a fine worth up to 20,000 lees (about $1,000) and up to six years in prison," Chisinau’s General Police Inspectorate told journalists on Monday.
Huge public riots have been shaking Chisinau for a month. The demonstrators have proclaimed Moldova to be a country "seized by the oligarchs." They are demanding the resignation of the country’s top officials and the heads of supervisory bodies; snap parliamentary elections and transition to direct election of the president by Moldovan people.
Protests have turned the center of Chisinau into a tent camp, which has been shared by the Party of Socialists and the Patria Party on the one hand and the Civic Platform DA (Dignity and Truth) on the other hand. Their demands are in many ways similar. What makes them different is that the DA stands for European integration and is accusing the authorities of compromising the idea by thievery. The left-wing parties stand for strengthening the Moldovan statehood and closer ties with Russia and the Eurasian geopolitical vector. Despite refusing to cooperate with each other, the right and left opposition groups have agreed not to stand in each other’s way.