Moldovans Rally Against Leaders

Tens of thousands of Moldovans streamed into this capital Sunday, answering nationalists’ calls for a show of people power to try to overthrow the Communist government.

Carrying banners reading, “Stop the Red Terror!” and “The Communists Are Terrorists,” an estimated 70,000 people from the 4-million population poured into Chisinau’s central square.

Yurie Rosca, leader of the Christian Democratic People’s Party, the driving force behind the protests, told the crowd that the rallies would continue until the government fell.

“We will keep protesting as long as is necessary to bring down this dictatorial regime. . . . We will come to this square every day. Our protests will be peaceful,” Rosca shouted from a stage erected in front of the Parliament building.

Police cordoned off the building, but there were few other officers deployed at the demonstration.

Tens of thousands of nationalists, schoolchildren and students have protested since January against the government’s pro-Russia policies, which they fear will play down Moldova’s cultural and linguistic links with neighboring Romania. They worry that the Communists, who control more than two-thirds of Parliament and all ministerial posts, want Moldova, a former Soviet republic, back in the Kremlin’s orbit.

The demonstrations, initially dominated by young people, began as an outcry against plans to force children to learn Russian in schools and to rewrite history textbooks. The rallies have shifted focus to call for the government’s resignation.

The Communists, in power since last February after a landslide election victory driven by promises to fight poverty, have so far tolerated the rallies and last week backed down on the language and textbook plans.

Analysts say the country is facing economic collapse, with the protests piling pressure on a government wrestling with crippling foreign debt and pleading for funds from hesitant foreign lenders. Many economists feel that Moldova is heading for a debt default and will need bailing out.