Protest in downtown Chisinau takes proportions

Approximately 15,000 young persons have protested in the center of Chisinau since morning, according to organizers. They continue the protest launched on Monday evening as they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the April 5 elections. They consider the elections were rigged and demand that they are rerun. The protesters threw eggs and stones at the Presidential Office and broke windows. A firefighter’s car that came to disperse the protesters with jets of water went back after the protesters surrounded it and broke its windows, Info-Prim Neo reports. The young people gathered in the Great National Assembly Square in front of the Government at 10.00. In about 40 minutes, they went on a march to the Presidential Office. The section of Stephan the Great Blvd between A. Pushkin and N. Iorga streets is closed for traffic. The traffic police are diverting the motor vehicles and public transport to the adjacent streets. Politicians joined the young persons and deliver speeches. They include Chiril Lucinschi and Oazu Nantoi of the Democratic Party (PDM), Mihai Godea, Calin Vieru and Iurie Leanca of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and Oleg Cernei of the Moldova Noastra Alliance. At about 12.00, the protesters started to throw eggs and plastic bottles at the Presidential Office, chanting ‘Down with the Communists “. They broke through the police cordon and damaged the windows of the first floor, destroying the pavement in front of the building and several stair steps. A policeman was injured in an altercation. Minister of the Interior Gheorghe Papuc accompanied by Deputy Minister Valentin Zubic came to the place. More and more policemen are deployed at the Presidential Office to ensure public order. The firefighter’s car that arrived to disperse the crowd pulled out after attacked. Oleg Brega, the first chairman of the civic association Hyde Park, has told Info-Prim Neo that the information about the protest was passed from person to person. The protest goes on.