Protesters denouncing a Communist election victory in Moldova seized the president's offices today and broke into parliament, where they hurled furniture and computers into the street.
About 10,000 demonstrators in Europe's poorest country massed for the second straight day after the Communist Party led by veteran president Vladimir Voronin scored a big victory in a weekend parliamentary election.
Hours after the protests swept through the centre of the Moldovan capital, opposition leaders addressing a rally called for a new election.
Most protesters were students who see no future if Communists keep their hold on the ex-Soviet state of 4 million people, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania.
Protesters hurling rocks overwhelmed riot police protecting both the president's office and parliament, located opposite each other on Chisinau's main boulevard, and poured into both buildings through smashed window panes.
They heaped tables, chairs and papers onto a bonfire outside the parliament building.
Fires could also be seen in some of the building's windows. Outside the president's office, protesters smashed and burned computers. Some policemen were seen nursing minor injuries.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has already congratulated Mr Voronin on his party's election win, and the Foreign Ministry said Russia was "deeply concerned" by the events in Moldova.
Opposition leaders said the only way to resolve the confrontation was to hold a new election.
"We call for a new election to be held. And we will win it," Serafim Urecheanu of Our Moldova, one of three opposition parties to win seats in Sunday's election, told a rally after a truce was established between protesters and police.
Mr Voronin, the only Communist president in Europe, has overseen stability and growth in Moldova since 2001, but he has been unable to resolve an 18-year-old separatist rebellion in the Russian-speaking region Transdniestria.
He cannot stand for a third consecutive term but has made it plain that he wants to retain the levers of power. Analysts say he could try to take on another influential role such as parliamentary speaker.
The election polarised Moldova into largely older and rural voters who see the Communists as a guarantor of stability, and those who identify with pro-Western liberal parties that broadly call for closer ties with Romania.
The communists won about 50 per cent of the vote on Sunday. Parliament elects the president in Moldova, and the Communists appeared very close to securing the 61 seats they need in the 101-seat parliament to secure victory for their chosen candidate.
Moldova is one of six former Soviet states with which the EU is due to launch a new programme of enhanced ties at a summit in Prague next month.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on all sides to show restraint.
"Violence against government buildings is unacceptable. Equally important is the respect for the inalienable right of assembly of peaceful demonstrators," he said.
Reuters