Moldova opposition figure plans to violate war symbol ban at May 9 march

Record ID: 1671626

  • Title: Moldova opposition figure plans to violate war symbol ban at May 9 march
  • Date: 6th May 2022
  • Summary: CHISINAU, MOLDOVA (MAY 6, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MOLDAVIAN PARLIAMENT VARIOUS OF SOCIALIST PARTY SYMBOLS (SOUNDBITE) (Romanian) DEPUTY SPEAKER OF MOLDAVIAN PARLIAMENT FROM SOCIALIST PARTY, VLAD BATRINCEA, SAYING: “This march (on May 9th) poses no threat to public order or national security. We addressed the citizens and told them that everyone needs to make their own decision. Personally, I will wear this (St George’s) ribbon, as I have done in previous years and as I will do in the following years.” VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Romanian) CHISINAU RESIDENT, LUDMILA DUDCA, SAYING: “I think now is a very inappropriate moment for organising such events and riots. I am not just against it, I am most outraged by all these tricks of (ex-president Igor) Dodon.” VARIOUS OF CHISINAU STREETS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) CHISINAU RESIDENT, VALERII RASCHITOR, SAYING: “I think this is a definite violation of human rights. Someone wears these ribbons, someone like those. It's my opinion. Or maybe if this symbol can increase military tension, then it is better to refuse it. You can look at it both ways.” VARIOUS OF CHISINAU STREETS NEAR REZINA, MOLDOVA (MAY 5, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BRIDGE BETWEEN REZINA IN MOLDOVA AND RYBNITSA IN MOLDOVA'S SELF PROCLAIMED SEPARATIST TRANSDNIESTRIA REGION VARIOUS OF RYBNITSA FROM ACROSS RIVER VARIOUS OF CARS NEAR BRIDGE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RYBNITSA RESIDENT, MARINA MARTALOG, SAYING: “God forbid! Of course we are all afraid. Who is not afraid of war? We are all afraid. We hope everything will be fine. (Reporter asking: What are they afraid of? That Transdniestrians will attack Moldova, or Russia?) No, no, what will they attack with? And Russia will not attack. This is the fastest Ukraine will do. Because here the Russian army is somewhere in Cobasna, only that. Only Ukraine can play a dirty trick, I think. I am Ukrainian myself.” VARIOUS OF RYBNITSA FROM ACROSS RIVER (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LOCAL RESIDENT, DANA BLANARI, SAYING: “There is still some kind of fear, those who live there in Rybnitsa are afraid that they don’t accidentally hit (the warehouse) where all these weapons are located in Cobasna. Yes, they are afraid. But we think that everything will be fine, there will be peace and everything.” VARIOUS OF STREETS OF REZINA
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2022 18:57
  • Keywords: Moldova Transdniestria Ukraine conflict mood
  • Location: NEAR REZINA AND CHISINAU, MOLDOVA
  • City: NEAR REZINA AND CHISINAU, MOLDOVA
  • Country: Moldova
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA001629306052022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:One of the leading figures in Moldova's opposition said on Friday (May 6) he plans to violate a ban on pro-Russian war symbols by wearing an orange and black ribbon during a march on May 9, in a direct challenge to the pro-Western government.
    Moldova's parliament passed a law last month banning symbols of Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine, including the orange and black ribbon of St. George worn widely by Kremlin supporters.
    The opposition Socialists, widely viewed within Moldova as pro-Russian although they disavow that label, call the ban a violation of free speech rights, and say the ribbon, which was used on some Soviet-era medals, should not have been included.
    Vlad Batrincea, who as deputy speaker of parliament is the highest-ranked opposition lawmaker, told Reuters the party had informed its members that it was a personal decision whether or not to violate the ban by wearing the ribbon at the march.
    "Personally, I will be wearing that ribbon, as I have in previous years, and as I will in future years. And for me this does not represent any symbol of aggression towards the neighbouring country, Ukraine," he said in an interview.
    Moldova has a history of political street unrest, and domestic attention has focused in recent days on plans for demonstrations on May 9, celebrated in Russia and other former Soviet states as marking victory in World War Two.
    "Of course we're afraid," said pensioner Marina Martalog, walking across a long bridge over the Dniestr River on Thursday (May 5) to her home in Transdniestria, a pro-Russian breakaway sliver of Moldova along the border with Ukraine. "Who isn't afraid of war?"
    Alongside her, the bridge was choked with cars and trucks, backed up across the entire 400 meter span because of extra checks from Transdniestria's separatist authorities, who have announced a state of emergency after what they say was a week of terrorist attacks aimed at drawing the region into the Ukraine war next door.
    Reported shootings and explosions have turned the territory of Transdniestria - long an anomaly on the post-Soviet map rarely noticed by the outside world - into the subject of international speculation that the Ukraine war could spill over frontiers.
    Transdniestria's separatist authorities blame Ukraine for attacking their territory to provoke war with Russian troops based in the enclave. Since last week, they say attackers shot up their security agency headquarters, blew up two radio masts, and sent a number of drones across the frontier from Ukraine armed with explosives.
    Ukrainian government officials have repeatedly denied any blame for the incidents in Transdniestria, saying they believed Russia was staging false-flag attacks to provoke war. Moscow, too, has denied blame, while saying it was concerned that Kyiv was trying to escalate.
    Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu blamed the unrest on "pro-war factions" among the separatists.
    Reuters has been unable to independently verify who is behind the attacks.
    For Martalog and some other residents of Rybnitsa, a factory town on the left bank of a wide and gentle stretch of the Dniestr River, there was only an ominous sense of bewilderment. Around half a dozen residents interviewed by Reuters said they did not know what to believe.
    Apart from the extra traffic on the bridge itself, there was little sign of an emergency. There were no checks at all on the other, Moldovan-held side of the bridge, where a single policeman sat in a booth.
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