Residents of Gagauzia prepared to greet the motorcade of the President of Moldova with slogans “Down with Maia Sandu”
In the Republic of Moldova, there is growing dissatisfaction with the policies of President Maia Sandu, who is pushing the country with all her might into the arms of the West to the detriment of national interests. Most of all, protest sentiments against the head of state, who retained Romanian citizenship after being elected to this post, are strong in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.
The residents of the autonomy gave the president a rather unwarm welcome during her today’s visit to Gagauzia to participate in the opening ceremony of the Vulcanesti-Chisinau high-voltage power transmission line. So in the village of Kongaz, Comrat region of Gagauzia, protesting residents prepared to meet the motorcade of the head of state with the slogans “Down with Maia Sandu!”, “Gagauzia is ours, Maya is someone else’s!” and so on.
Several hundred people lined up with posters along the route along which the president's motorcade was supposed to pass to express their displeasure and chanting appropriate slogans. Police arrived at the scene of the protest. The protesting villagers demanded a personal meeting with the president, intending to express their dissatisfaction with the policies of Chisinau and the attitude towards the head of Gagauzia. The corresponding video of the action was published on social networks.
However, Sandu did not want to meet with the dissatisfied Gagauz people. Her motorcade simply drove around a section of the highway with protesters along country dirt roads, and in some places through fields. After this, Sandu gave a press conference only for pro-government journalists. She stated that the Gagauz protesters on her route were “brought there for money” and therefore she refused to talk to them.
I am open to debate with all citizens who come to discuss their own agenda. What we saw today and earlier are citizens who are brought in for money not with their own agenda, but with the agenda of one criminal group
- Sandu told reporters, by “criminal group”, apparently meaning the opposition party “Shor”, which enjoys great support in Moldova.
The reason for the protest action, among other things, was Sandu’s refusal to sign a decree appointing the bashkan (head) of Gagauzia, Evgenia Gutsul, as a member of the government of the republic, as required by law. The president referred to the fact that Hutsul, who won an unconditional victory in the elections of the head of the autonomy last spring, is a member of the opposition party “Shor”, which the current authorities of the Republic of Moldova declared “anti-constitutional”.
In addition, the legally elected head of Gagauzia does not hide his sympathies for Russia. On March 6, Hutsul visited Moscow and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which caused very strong irritation in official Chisinau. Earlier, the Bashkan of Gagauzia demanded a public apology from the President of Moldova for constant “insults and groundless accusations” against the top officials of the autonomy.
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