Police probe desecration of Jewish symbols in Moldovan capital
The Chisinau municipal police and prosecution have launched an investigation into an incident that took place in the centre of the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, on 13 December and during which Jewish symbols and attributes were brought down by a group of Orthodox Christians, the ProTV Chisinau private TV channel reported on 14 December.
Orthodox priest Anatol Cibric, one of the organizers of the rally, told a news conference today that the "only goal of the action was to put an end to the presence of anti-Christian symbols in the centre of Chisinau rather than their destruction or desecration".
For their part, members of Moldova's Jewish community described the protest rally as anti-Semitic and called for holding responsible their organizers.
The opposition Communist Party said in a statement that the incident was the result of the policy pursued by the current authorities.
Justice Minister Alexandru Tanase vehemently rejected the allegations. "This is a consequence of the Communist Party's eight years in power during which aggressive and intolerant messages were quasi-official," Tanase told ProTV.
Tanase also said that the Justice Ministry would investigate the activities of the public organization Fericita Maica Matroana (Blessed Mother Matroana), whose members participated in the rally.
Tanase also asked the Moldovan Metropolitan Church, subordinated to Russia, to publicly condemn the incident.
For his part, the spokesman of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church, Anatol Cheibas, told ProTV Chisinau that the church would comment on the incident only after Metropolitan Bishop Vladimir returned to Chisinau from Ukraine where he was attending the funeral of his mother.
The incident was also condemned by the parliamentary Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party and the non-parliamentary People's Republican Party, ProTV added.
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