The Streets of Chisinau

The first messages came in via twitter, a confrontation between young protesters and police in Moldova.? Then, more clicking and a few more messages, live video feeds from Chisinau via Romanian television, reports of 1 young protester dead, 2 cops also killed. No confirmation.? Watching the video feed: scenes from the streets, sometimes just huge crowds standing around talking to each other, other time lines of riot gear police pushing back-and-forth against protestors.? Cut to the presidential palace, where the light exterior paint job has turned to a sllight shade of dirty, with many eggs and assorted garbage being thrown at the building.? More pushing, more police, more people from both sides falling out of the crowd clutching their bloody heads.

Twitter friends report that it all started among the Moldovan Youth, with a few messages on all the popular internet meeting places.? Recent elections resulted in another term of the communist party, the only communist party to have been elected in the former soviet union following its collapse.? The people, especially the youth, put election fraud at the top of their list of grievances; by the afternoon they’ve taken control of both the parliament and the presidential palace. Live feed shows more cops and hoses pumping high pressure water at crowds.? BBC says the police have largely given up fighting the public, though the live feed doesn’t support that story completely.

By the end of the day I’m reading more and more news summaries, each of which, much like this post, try to explain what has happenned in Moldova and why.? One item, I forget where I saw it, points out that this action was spearheaded by a new internet communication revolution that has finally arrived from Romania and Bulgaria.? I wonder what unemployed, under-represented, lower class Romanians would have to say about the fruits of that alleged revolution spilleth over? I wonder what they will replace their current corrupt leaders with? Hopefully not other soon-to-be corrupt leaders, that happens a bit too often in this world.

(BBC also has a nice timeline on Moldova)