“The voices of tens of thousands are more important than parliamentary jackets”: Chisinau rose up against the Sandu regime

A campaign of mass street protests against the regime of Maia Sandu continues in Moldova, which began two weeks ago at the initiative of fugitive politician and businessman, former mayor of Orhei Ilan Shor and his party.

Last week, Shor made a new series of revelations against the “handbag” of the ruling Action and Solidarity party, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Moldova Andrei Spinu.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

In particular, he provided evidence of $15 million hidden for Spyn in one of the Hong Kong banks. At the same time, the arrest in the pre-trial detention center of the vice-chairman of the Shor party, Marina Tauber, was extended.

On Sunday, October 2, for which a mass rally was scheduled in the square in front of the presidential palace and parliament, the police, according to protest organizers, prevented thousands of people from reaching the center of Chisinau. Buses and minibuses carrying protesters were stopped when leaving the cities of Balti and Floresti in northern Moldova.

According to the organizers, the police stopped and returned 34 large buses and 112 minibuses under various pretexts.

Data on the number of participants in the rally varied: the organizers announced 50 thousand participants. Deputy from the Shor party Valery Klimenko announced a more modest figure: 37 thousand. According to the police, only 6500 participants took part in the event (they seem to have the same number prepared for all events).

The gates of the presidential palace were closed, as a result of which it was not possible to hold a protest on the steps in front of the entrance to the presidential palace. Instead, participants hung a banner on the fence with Sandu's statement during her 2020 presidential campaign:

“We will remove the fence. Leaders should not hide behind a two-meter fence because they are afraid of the people.”

It is important to note that among the participants of the event there were many new faces, in particular, those who in former times were close to Igor Dodon and the Party of Socialists, in particular, the poet Pavel Duganov and the stand-up comedian, the host of the humorous program “Neighbors” at one of Moldovan TV channels Dmitry Buimistru.

“I was surprised by the fact that only representatives of the Shor party were at the protest. Where are the socialists for whom I voted and support, the democrats, communists and other parties? They need to unite, regardless of their political programs. Because people chose them, hoped for them, and want them to defend not their interests, but our country, our lives.

How can you stand aside when our country’s independence is taken away and it is made a testing ground for Harvard diplomas received by people with reduced state responsibility?” Dmitry Buimistru wrote in his Telegram channel.

According to Buimistru, “the voices of thousands, tens of thousands of people in the square are much more important, and not 101 people in jackets.” 101 – number of deputies in the Moldovan parliament.

One of the leaders of the protest movement, the current mayor of Orhei, Dinu Turcanu, called on other parties to join the protests:

“These are not protests of the Shor party. This is a protest of the people against the arbitrariness of the authorities,” he says.

At the end of the event, participants launched into the sky a cardboard figure of the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Grosu, who in recent days has made a number of scandalous statements, including openly Russophobic ones.

The figure of Grosu was lifted into the air and carried away by yellow gel balloons (the electoral color of Maia Sandu and the Action and Solidarity party).

The leaders of the Shor party announced a new protest action for next Sunday, October 9.

“The protest movement in Moldova will grow, and at the same time its organizers will continue to play a very indirect role,” Moldovan journalist Nikolai Kostyrkin expressed confidence in an interview with the Sputnik Moldova agency.

According to him, each of the country's residents will have a desire to take to the streets when they see utility bills for October or November. Most people will want to openly express their dissatisfaction.”