From Sofia News Agency in Bulgaria:
Moldova has accused neighboring Romania of fueling the protests that erupted into violence in the capital Chisinau and declared Romania’s ambassador persona non grata, BBC reported. …
Some of the protesters on Tuesday had called for the unification of Moldova with Romania, its bigger neighbor.
Thousands of young protesters thronged Chisinau, fighting police and ransacking parliament, in protest at the results of Sunday’s election.
Official results gave the ruling Communists about 50% of the vote in the Romanian-speaking ex-Soviet republic.
From Dutch NOS TV:
Many of the [anti communist] demonstrators were carrying Romanian flags.
See also here.
Police retake parliament
MOLDOVA: Riot police regained control of the president’s office and parliament early on Wednesday after they had been ransacked by protesters who were claiming that parliamentary elections had been rigged.
Communist President Vladimir Voronin accused pro-European opposition parties on Tuesday of being behind the protests that left more than 50 people injured.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/the_world_in_brief__142
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President calls for vote recount
MOLDOVA: President Vladimir Voronin called on Friday for a recount of votes in last weekend’s parliamentary elections.
Mr Voronin says he wants a recount to re-establish political stability and trust in the former Soviet republic. He is insisting that the ruling Communist Party won the ballot and accuses the opposition of being unfair in their accusations of fraud.
Some 10,000 protesters angered by the election result stormed parliament on Tuesday in riots that left more than 90 injured and led to 200 arrests.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/the_world_in_brief__143
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Moldovan generation gap stokes political feuds
By MANSUR MIROVALEV
Associated Press Writer
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — With one-quarter of the population working abroad to eke out a living, impoverished Moldova has become a country of the young and the very old. …
Ion Covali, a 61-year-old retired trucker, voted for the victorious Communists because he believes capitalism has only brought his once-proud country poverty and humiliation – a point driven home by the world economic crisis. …
After the 1991 Soviet collapse, the world turned upside down for the pensioner’s generation. Sitting at an oak dinner table at his crammed apartment in the capital, Chisinau, Covali pointed at the pictures of his two sons, Corneliu and Marius, who work at a fish cannery in Portugal to support their families.
Now the world’s economic downturn, he said, threatens even this tenuous economic lifeline.
“I voted for Communists because they promise stability amid this capitalist crisis,” Covali said. “They are far from perfect, but they are better than these opposition crybabies that squabble between themselves instead of serving the people.” …
“The revolt only boosted communists’ ratings,” said Svetlana, a middle-aged saleswoman at a bookstore in central Chisinau, who refused to provide her last name, saying she fears pressure from nationalists.
“Many of my friends were indifferent to voting, but after what happened they said they will vote for Voronin,” she said.
Of course, not all of the young supported the protests. Neither do all elderly Moldovans back the Communists.
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Railway workers resist job cuts
ROMANIA: Around 10,000 railway workers rallied in Bucharest on Wednesday against cuts that will lead to the loss of 12,000 jobs.
They marched from the main railway station to the government headquarters, where they demanded the plans be scrapped.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/world/the_world_in_brief__156
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