About 300 pensioners and veterans are protesting against the rise in water and sewerage charges and the bus and trolleybus fares in front of the Chisinau City Hall. They demand that the Chisinau Municipal Council's decision to raise them be annulled and that the heating charge be left unchanged, Info-Prim Neo reports. Separate protested were staged by the NGO “Salvgardarea” (“Safeguard”) and the Chisinau Council of Veterans. The first protesters demand that the September 15 decision to increase the tariffs be annulled or postponed until experts on behalf of the civil society participate in a financial inspection at the water supplier Apa-Canal, the Electric Transport Company and the Urban Bus Company, while the veterans ask that the charges and fares should fit the pensions. Lilian Carp, the head of the Chisinau Mayor's Cabinet, invited representatives of the two organizations to a meeting with officials of the mentioned municipal companies. But the protesters refused to listen to their arguments, saying that they were only statements for the press. “We came here to make statements in front of the video cameras so that the public is lied in the evening,” said the head of “Salvgardare” Maia Laguta. Lilian Carp said that there are no obstacles to carrying out a financial inspection at the municipal companies and that it could start after the civil society delegates representatives. He promised he would pass on protesters' claims to the municipal councilors and will provide an answer as to the possibility of postponing the implementation of the new tariffs in the afternoon. Asked by Info-Prim Neo, pensioners participating in the protests, who are not yet members of the organizations that organized them, said that though they travel seldom by bus they prefer to travel free of charge than to receive the monthly compensation of 70 lei that they could use for other necessities. “I am on a pension of 800 lei and came here to make common cause with those who receive lower pensions. I'm sorry for those who will not be able to pay,” said pensioner Maria Leuco. “We do not want to use the 70 lei for other purposes. We want to travel freely on the basis of the pensioner's card,” pensioner Ion Plamadeala said. Another pensioner, Sofia Belous, said that she accepts the compensation of 70 lei, but protests against the rise in the prices of products, including food products. When the news story was to be published, the Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca came out to the protesters and invited them to the Great National Assembly Square to continue the discussions there so as to unblock the traffic near the City Hall. At that moment, few of the protesters accepted the mayor's invitation.