PROTESTERS RANSACKED parliament and the president’s office in Moldova yesterday, after what they called a fraudulent general election victory by communists.
At least 10,000 people rallied for a second day in the centre of the capital, Chisinau.
Groups of young demonstrators began hurling stones at riot police, before driving them back and finally clambering into parliament through smashed windows.
Once inside, they hurled office furniture, files and computers on to the street and set fire to parts of the building.
On the square outside, defying tear gas and water cannon, other protesters lit a bonfire and chanted anti-government slogans.
Moldovan television said one woman had died and dozens of people had been injured in the fighting, which caught police, officials and even opposition leaders off guard.
“Everything that they have undertaken in the last 24 hours cannot be described as anything other than a coup d’etat,” communist president Vladimir Voronin said in a television address, accusing his opponents of embarking “on the path of violent seizure of power” and vowing that the authorities “would resolutely defend the state against the leaders of the pogrom”.
The protests were led by youth groups who are deeply suspicious of the communists and of Moscow, and favour much closer ties with the EU and Romania, of which Moldova was part between the world wars, and with which it has strong cultural ties.