Violent scenes have been caught on camera during an anti-LGBTQ rally in the post-Soviet country’s capital

[image id=286987]

Police officers have used force against the participants of an anti-LGBTQ rally in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, with videos from the scene capturing an Orthodox priest being knocked to the ground, while a man with a child was roughed up by officers and detained.

Tensions escalated after a group of LGBTQ activists staged an unsanctioned march in the center of the city, Sputink Moldova reported on Sunday.

Dozens of people with rainbow flags blocked traffic and paraded through the streets. Although the police had been deployed to the scene in large numbers, they made no effort to stop the march, according to the agency.

They eventually crossed paths with a counter-protest by Orthodox Christians carrying icons and crosses. Violence erupted when the anti-LGBTQ demonstrators tried breaching the police cordons separating them from the other group.

One of the videos from the scene captured officers brutally throwing an Orthodox priest to the ground.

 

Another clip showed the police mistreating a man holding a small child in his hands. In one of them, the father barely avoids dropping the boy head down on the pavement while he is being pushed by officers.

 

In one more video, another man holding an infant is seen being shoved into a police van by at least three officers.

 

Several people were detained during the protest, according to Sputnik Moldova.

The tension eventually subsided, with the anti-LGBTQ demonstrators beginning to sing prayers.

 

The leader of the opposition Revival Party, Natalya Paraska, described the actions of the officers in Chisinau as “shocking.”

“Whom do our police serve – society or a bunch of marginalized people under rainbow flags?” she asked.

 

Read more

 Moldovan Orthodox bishop blocked from religious trip again

Paraska claimed the current Moldovan authorities did not care that priests and parents with children were among the detained, because for them “the main thing is to fulfill the command of [President Maia] Sandu, which, on orders from Brussels, demands that the gay parade take place at any cost. Even if it means trampling on Christian family values.”

Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has sought EU and NATO membership since 2020, when Sandu – an outspoken critic of Russia – came to power. Her pro-Western policies have faced growing criticism domestically, particularly over the country’s economic trajectory and handling of dissent.

In recent years, the country of 2.4 million has experienced religious tension involving two major Orthodox factions: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia. The latter is under the Romanian Orthodox Church, and is backed by the pro-EU authorities in Chisinau. Critics have repeatedly accused President Sandu’s government of pressuring the Moscow-linked church to shift allegiance to Romania.

In April, an apparent move by Sandu’s government to prevent Bishop Marchel of the Moldovan Orthodox Church from making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem drew international criticism and condemnation by Moldova’s political opposition, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church.