Election Protests Turn Violent - President and Parliament Buildings Trashed

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000287 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/UMB E.O 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM MD SUBJECT: Election Protests Turn Violent - President and Parliament Buildings Trashed Summation up to April 7 Sensitive but Unclassified. Please Protct Accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: After unoffiial April 5 election results gave a majority t the ruling Party of Communists (PCRM),thousand of Moldovans took to the streets on Monday, Aprl 6. A candle-lit vigil of some thousands on te evening of April 6 remained peaceful with calls for democracy and election recount. However, on April 7 what started as a peaceful morning demonstration mutated into an orgy of rock-throwing destruction. Protestors broke windows and eventually succeeded in over-running both the Presidency and Parliament buildings. Looters tossed furniture out the windows of the parliament, while others set bonfires. Flames smoldered most of the afternoon. In the evening of April 7, as random destruction of files and equipment from both buildings continued, opposition leaders drew some of the crowd away from the smoldering buildings toward the national square in front of the government building two blocks away, and thousands rallied peacefully listening to speeches and chanting slogans. By midnight most of the crowd had dispersed. The Presidency suffered mostly from broken windows; the parliament building sustained heavy damage. End Summary. Street Protests Turn Violent -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On the morning of April 7 some 10-15,000 protestorsQmostly high-school and university students--gathered in the center of the city and walked along the main street to the Presidency and Parliament buildings carrying Moldovan flags and banners. Thousands milled around on the street in front of both buildings (which face each other across the main boulevard that runs through downtown Chisinau). At around noon, the situation started to turn ugly. Some riot police moved in; protestors began throwing stones and chunks of concrete which they had hammered out of the pavement. The police were eventually forced to retreat; the crowd grew bolder, hurling more stones and breaking windows of the presidency. ¶3. (SBU) The violence then got out of hand as stone-throwing continued until both the Presidency and Parliament building had been breached. Protestors took complete control of the presidential building and looted it, burning files and documents. Windows were broken on all floors and items were thrown from all levels. Two Moldovan flags were displayed from the building through broken windows and the EU flag remained on the roof of both buildings. The first floor of the Parliament was on fire by mid-afternoon, damaging the main meeting hall. ¶4. (SBU) While rioting and looting were going on around Parliament and the Presidency, opposition leaders Filat (Liberal Democratic party),Chirtoaca (Chisinau Mayor and Liberal Party deputy leader) and Urechean (Our Moldova Alliance) tried to calm the crowd at the central square about 250 meters east of the Parliament and Presidency; they attracted some listeners, who cried "Liberty" and "Down with Communism," but realized that their efforts were not calming the protesters. Events continued at two locations Q the rioting at the presidential and parliament buildings and the crowds listening to speeches two blocks away at the central square. Observers noted that there were some injured, including policemen. President Voronin Meets with Ambassadors -------------- ¶5. (SBU) President Voronin called in ambassadors from the U.S., Czech Republic, and European Commission for a meeting at 1700 hours. The President said the situation was getting hard to control. The President said he had met with the three opposition leaders (Urechean, Filat, Chirtoaca),but there was no positive outcome from the meeting. The opposition leaders claimed they could not control the protestors, who had gathered on their own. The President said the government wanted a peaceful resolution to the protests. Voronin asked the ambassadors to contact the opposition and convince them to avoid violence. Ambassador Meets with Opposition Leaders -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Several government officials put all blame on the three main opposition leaders, Urechean, Filat and Chirtoaca, accusing them of attempting to stage a coup d'etat. As the President had suggested, in the late evening the Ambassador met with each of these three leaders, and urged the leaders to help stabilize the situation. Each of the leaders denied that they had playing any role in organizing the violence, and Chirtoaca explained his role in leading thousands of protestors away from the burning Parliament and towards the peaceful demonstration and speeches in the square. They described electoral fraud and manipulation, and said they were demanding a recount. Each of the three leaders expressed concerns that he would be arrested. Comment -------------- ¶7. (SBU) No one was expecting what began as a peaceful demonstration to take a turn for the worse. While many accusations are being hurled about who organized the violence, eyewitnesses noted that the transition from peaceful protest to violence appeared to evolve spontaneously without leaders, as crowd psychology took over after the first rock was thrown. While police restrained their reaction, the crowd vandalized and destroyed the Parliament and Presidency. The violent activity remained contained to a one-block radius. Just two blocks away, one would not even know that protests were taking place nearby. CHAUDHRY