Chisinau is hosting the most massive protest action since the beginning of the 1990s, involving tens of thousands of people: according to the police there are 20-25 thousand people, while according to the protesters themselves there are about 100 thousand people. They are demanding the resignation of President Nicolae Timofti, as well as early parliamentary elections, which, according to the protesters, should be appointed by March of 2016, when Timofti's term is coming to an end. People also criticized the current government formed by the ruling pro-European coalition 'Alliance for European Integration'.
In parallel, the city is hosting two meetings. One of them is under the leadership of the Civic Platform DA (Demnitate si Adevar - 'Dignity and Justice'), at which a list of a Council of the 'Grand National Assembly' of 10 members was announced, they will begin negotiations with the authorities and stay on the square after the protest.
The protest action is declared to be non-partisan and should take place without symbols, but many participants took flags of Moldova, Romania and the EU with them.
Journalists Alex Coser, Constantine Cheianu and Angela Arame from DA stated that they are going to organize a tent camp and live in it until they get what they want, and urged people to follow their example.
The second meeting was convened by the organization 'Our Home is Moldova' ('Red bloc'), who stated that they will establish a tent camp near the government building.
Several farmers' organizations, which charged the authorities with incompetence in resolving the problems of farmers, expressed solidarity with the protesters.
Prime Minister Valery Strelets came out to the protesters on the square, he spoke about the measures taken by the government to combat the crisis, and apologized for the fact that, despite these measures, the activists have to organize protests.
