CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Several thousand protesters rallied in Moldova’s capital on Sunday to demand that the country’s new pro-Western government pay citizens’ heating bills in full during the winter amid a cost-of-living crisis and skyrocketing inflation.
The protest was organized by a recently formed group called Movement for the People and supported by members of Moldova’s pro-Russian Shor party, which holds six seats in the former Soviet republic’s 101-seat legislature.
Some of the protesters who gathered in Chisinau demanded the resignation of the country’s president and shouted “Down with Maia Sandu!” Others held placards with the faces of some Moldovan leaders and politicians alongside photos of large houses and fancy cars.
“You have millions. We are dying of hunger,” they said.
Sandu on February 13 outlined what she believed to be an alleged conspiracy by Moscow to overthrow the government in order to make the nation “available to Russia” and derail it from its course of one day joining the European Union.
“The change of power in Chisinau would be forced through violent actions, masked by protests by the so-called opposition,” she said. “In carrying out the plan, the authors draw on several internal forces, but particularly on criminal groups such as the Shor Formation and all of its offshoots.”
Russia firmly denied their claims.
A series of anti-government protests initiated by the Shor party rocked Moldova in the autumn as the country was gripped by a severe energy crisis after Russia dramatically cut natural gas supplies.
Around the same time, the Moldovan government petitioned the country’s constitutional court to declare the Shor party illegal. The country’s anti-corruption prosecutor’s office claimed the protests were funded in part with Russian money.
On Saturday, the bureau said more than 20 searches were carried out at the homes of party members who were “actively and systematically involved in receiving and distributing funds … for the transportation and remuneration” of citizens for the protests.
Eight people were arrested, authorities said.
The Shor Party accused the authorities of mobilizing thousands of police officers to thwart Sunday’s demonstration and “prevent people from entering the capital”.
The leader of the party, Ilan Shor, is a Moldovan oligarch currently living in exile in Israel. He is involved in a $1 billion bank heist and was recently placed on a US State Department sanctions list as a champion of Russian interests.
The US says Shor worked with “corrupt oligarchs and Moscow-based organizations to create political unrest in Moldova” and undermined the country’s bid to join the EU.
According to the Movement for the People website, the group was formed in early February and is made up of “several political forces, public associations, local elected officials and civil society activists” to address the “unprecedented crises” facing Moldova and its citizens.
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McGrath reported from Sibiu, Romania.
Aurel Obreja and Stephen McGrath, The Associated Press
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