Criminal underworld conducted students' peaceful protests, justice minister

The protests that started peacefully on April 6 were taken over on April 7 and conducted by elements of the criminal underworld that were directed by representatives of the former government, Minister of Justice Alexandru Tanase said after a hearing at the Prosecutor General's Office on February 10. The minister said a number of details related to the April 6 events could clear up the mystery and shed light on the April 7 events. He said that during the peaceful protests on April 6 in the evening he identified a well-organized group of persons who synchronized their actions and led the crowd to the Parliament's building, but nothing bad happened that evening by good luck. “On April 6 and 7, the protesters included persons who coordinated their actions between them. I heard them giving instructions and realized they had a well though out plan. They were young persons, spoke Russian and looked like representatives of the criminal underworld by appearance. They had nothing in common with the students who were protesting peacefully,” the minister said. Alexandru Tanase also said some of the elements of the criminal underworld were identified, one of whom during today's hearings. According to him, that person played an active role in organizing and coordinating the other protesters. “There are no signs suggesting that those events represented an attempted coup,” Tanase said. “The authors of those events must be looked for among those who governed this county, not among the then Opposition, which was a victim.” On February 10, Alexandru Tanase was questioned as a witness in the April 2009 events case.