Thousands of Moldovian Students Smash Parliament

by Rob Walker | April 7, 2009 at 04:55 am

123 views | 10 Recommendations | 0 comments

Students in Moldova attacked the country's parliament to protest the re-election of the Communist Party, which won 50 per cent of the vote on Sunday. Thousands of people took to the streets and rampaged through Moldova's Parliament building, smashing windows and starting fires.

After the parliament building was gutted and at least 30 people, both protesters and police, were injured in the rioting.

Witnesses say crowds poured into the building through smashed ground-floor windows. They hurled furniture out and set it alight.
More than 30 people, including both protesters and police officers, were injured, the head doctor at a hospital in Chisinau told the AFP news agency.

Moldova's opposition parties demanded a fresh election in the former Soviet republic on Tuesday, shortly after protesters concluded a truce with police.
"We call for a new election to be held. And we will win it," Serafim Urecheanu of Our Moldova, one of three opposition parties to win seats in Sunday's election, told a rally held near the presidential and parliamentary offices.