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Moldova’s Civic Platform protesters to present plan of action on January 29

The organizers said the pause in the protests is explained by the impossibility to stay in the square permanently

CHISINAU, January 28. /TASS/. The leaders of the Civic Platform DA (Dignity and Truth) will voice their plan of further action after consultations with the civil society on January 29, leader of the informal organization Andrei Nastase told reporters on Thursday.

"If today they [the authorities] fail to respond to the demands, then we will gather for a civic forum tomorrow to decide what further steps we should take," Nastase said. According to him, this event will be attended by the Moldovan elite, representatives of the left-wing opposition and NGOs. "There we will make the decisions on our further action. Whether to protest together or separately," Nastase said. He said that Platform DA would continue the protest and would be intensifying the pressure. "Our actions will be within the law. We have only one weapon - white chrysanthemums", said the leader of the demonstrators.

The organizers said the pause in the protests is explained by the impossibility to stay in the square permanently. "We cannot rally every day. We have families, jobs," said one of the organizers of the demonstrations, Vassile Nastase.

The opposition Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova and Our Party, which support the eastern vector of the republic’s development, take part in the protest rallies together with Platform DA. The Moldovan opposition is awaiting the authorities’ response to the ultimatum it delivered: either the government of Pavel Filip which they regard illegal resigns and early parliamentary elections are announced or the protesters start civil disobedience actions.

On Sunday, the protesters for the first time demonstrated their intention to increase pressure on the authorities when columns of thousands of people with drums beating, trumpets sounding and anti-government slogans marched through the streets of the city, paralyzing the traffic. After that they blocked for an hour the entrance to the city on the Balkan highway from Romania’s side. Many-kilometer traffic jams formed in the city roads, the operation of many urban services was disrupted.

On January 15, President Timofti nominated Minister of Information Technologies and Communications Pavel Filip as a candidate for prime minister. Filip’s nomination was a compromise solution in conditions of confrontation between the country’s president and the Democratic Party which has managed for form a majority of 55 lawmakers in the 101-seat Moldovan parliament. The majority includes the factions of the Democratic Party, Liberal Party and former members of the Party of Communists and the Liberal Democratic Party. Democrats insisted on the nomination of their party’s deputy leader, businessmen Vladimir Plahotniuc as candidate for prime minister. The president however was strongly against, saying Plahotniuc "fails to meet the criteria of a candidate for the post of prime minister."

Mass protests have been held in Chisinau since last Wednesday, when the opposition picketed the parliament building where the new government was endorsed. It took six minutes for the parliamentary majority formed around the Democratic Party of Moldova to approve the cabinet of Pavel Flip. The candidate for prime minister was given no time to present the program of his future cabinet. This hasty appointment triggered riots, with protesters trying to storm the building. More than 30 people were injured in clashes with police. Subsequent protest actions have been held peacefully.