Thousands Rally In Anti-Communist Protest In Chisinau

Thousands of people are protesting in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau to what they say is the rigging of parliamentary elections held Sunday in the Republic of Moldova, which placed the communist party in the lead with nearly 50% of votes.

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About 30,000 people present at the protest action organized by the Moldovan Liberal Democratic Party, which secured little over 12% of votes, demand that annulment of the election. The protest also was joined by several Moldovan politicians.

Leaders of Moldovan opposition parties Serafim Urecheanu, Vlad Filat and Mihai Ghimpu met with Government representatives, requesting that the elections be held again and calling for the protests to continue peacefully. They are to meet with the head of the OSCE mission which will monitor the elections.

Protesters seized the headquarters of the Moldovan Parliament and Presidency and hung the flags of Romania and the European Union from the rooftops. Fire fighters used water canons to disperse the crowd. Hundreds of police officers surrounded the presidency building.

Some 50 people, both police and civilian, were injured during clashes. Unofficial sources said hundreds of people from all over Moldova are heading for Chisinau to join the protest.

According to sources in the Moldovan Government, authorities have cut off all state bodies from internet access. This had the aim of preventing the spread of news about the riots among Moldovan public servants. The online editions of Moldovan newspapers have also been taken down and mobile phone networks are jammed in the center of Chisinau, so that protesters were unable to communicate and co-ordinate their actions.

About fifty Moldovan students who left from the eastern Romanian city of Iasi were denied access into Moldova. Customs officers gave them back their passports and denied their access into the neighboring country, without any explanation. The students said they are determined to block the customs point and added other Moldovan students are heading for the border.

Protesters said a young woman was killed by police but authorities deny the existence of any victims or arrests, Deutsche Welle reported.

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