Tens of youngsters, Romanian citizens, currently blocked in Albita-Leuseni customs by the Moldovan border guards for more than 48 hours, are ready to go on hunger strike if they are not allowed to cross the Prut River to attend the Centennial March. They also ask for Romania’s Embassy in Chisinau to provide consular assistance.
The youngsters were attending a Centennial March, which symbolically promotes the project of the reunion between Romania and Republic of Moldova.
35 participants, who are Romanian citizens, were banned from entering the Moldovan territory.
Initially, the Moldovan customs officers told the youngsters their passports could not be checked due to a disruption of the computer system, then they told them they had no good reasons to cross the border to the Republic of Moldova. In the end, the customs officers told a press release the youngsters would have disturbed the public order.
The youngest participant to the march has 6 years old and he came with his mother and 12yo sister from Strasbourg to walk to Chisinau.
In a press statement issued by the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau, the Romanian diplomatic mission says the ban is a decision taken by the Republic of Moldova’s authorities and that, from its point of view, there has been no disturbance of the public order in this case.
„Romania’s Embassy in Chisinau is watching in the dialogue with the Moldovan authorities that the rights of the Romanian citizens should be observed, in compliance with the internal provisions in this country and with the international commitments of the R. of Moldova. From the point of view of the Romanian customs officers, the group of people who arrived at Albita customs on the morning of August 27 has not disturbed the public order in any way on the Romanian side of the border and has brought no prejudice to the legal regime of the state border”, says the press release.
PMP and PNL opposition parties from Bucharest have condemned the incident, asking the Romanian authorities to take stand in this issue.
PMP deputy Constantin Codreanu, the chairman of the committee for the Romanian communities from abroad, says in a Facebook post that the Romanian state is required to urgently ask for clarification from the Moldovan state, reminding that only people suspect of certain crimes or who are convicted for criminal deeds can be stopped at the border. „I don’t know if these people who want to celebrate the Centennial of the Great Union are liable of serious deeds or felonies. The tension in the customs following the Chisinau Government’s abuse to ban the border passage, amid a symbolic commemorative march, is definitely serving exclusively to the anti-Romanian instigators in R. of Moldova,” he argues.
Daniel Gheorghe (PNL) has also condemned the „abuse of the anti-democrat Plahotniuc-Dodon regime in Chisinau”. „I publicly ask immediate intervention of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau and of the Romanian President,” he says.
Within the Centennial March, people of all ages from Romania and R. of Moldova have passed the torch of Union from one city to another. The march started in Alba Iulia and will end in Chisinau on September 1.