Veterans not allowed to destroy monument to Lenin

The veterans of the Nistru war were not allowed to pull down the monument to Lenin set up at Moldexpo. They brought hammers with them in order to destroy the monument to the Russian revolutionary, but were stopped by policemen and sympathizers of the Communist Party, Info-Prim Neo reports. The sympathizers of the PCRM, among whom the Communist MP Iurie Munteanu, and several Chisinau councilors formed a human chain in front of the monument and did not allow veteran Valeriu Ciobanu to come up to it. A part of those who gathered at Moldexpo said Lenin was a personage who only destroyed human lives and does not deserve having a monument, while the supporters of the PCRM said Lenin was a remarkable figure, who must be commemorated. The communist sympathizers chanted: “Down with the provokers”, while the Nistru war veterans chanted: “Down with the Communists”. Valeriu Ciobanu repeatedly tried to get to the monument, but was every time stopped. The Buiucani police commissariat found out about the altercations that took place. Municipal police chief Silviu Musuc said that a sufficient number of police officers were sent to the scene to maintain public order, given that there were present sympathizers of two sides. “Mister Ciobanu holds no authorization or ordinance. He is not empowered to take monuments down,” he stated. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, the chairman of the National Independence War Veterans Union Eduard Maican said that he knows nothing about Valeriu Ciobanu’s actions and his intention to demolish the monument to Lenin. As to the Union’s position on the demolition of the monument, he said that they never discussed this issue within the Council. In a news conference yesterday, Valeriu Ciobanu announced that they will knock down the monument to Lenin at Moldexpo at all costs. According to him, they will destroy and bury it.