Pro-Russia Protesters Break Into Moldova Parliament

Earlier in the day, the activists gathered at the parliament to protest the decision by Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti to nominate Pavel Filip, the minister of informational technologies and communications and member of the Democratic Party, to the position of Moldovan prime minister.

The protesters broke through police lines, says the BBC, and tear gas was reportedly used.

Moldova has been home to political uncertainty for about three months after its previous government was ousted by a no-confidence vote in October, and entered 2016 without a government.

Some police officers were beaten by the demonstrators, six of whom were later treated for non-life threatening injuries at the Chisinau Municipal Emergency Hospital, said Eufalia Negreata, a doctor.

Moldova has been locked in political crisis over a $1-billion (910-million-euro) corruption scandal that triggered mass demonstrations and the arrest of a former prime minister.

Massive crowds of people protested on Wednesday in front of the Parliament Palace in Chisinau against the vote in favor of government led by Democrats’ Vice Chairman Pavel Filip, demanding early elections. The vote allows the Moldovan Parliament to remain intact under a pro-European coalition.

As the session got underway, lawmakers from the Socialists’ Party booed, blew whistles and blocked off part of the Parliament.

He later said he was committed to Moldova, an impoverished former Soviet republic with a population of about 4million, joining the European Union.

The last government was dismissed in October and parliament was deadlocked over its replacement.

Protesters might also try to maintain a presence in the parliamentary building and potentially other government buildings, similar to Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests in late 2013 and early 2014 that eventually toppled then-President Viktor Yanukovich.

If parliament had not managed to approve a government by January 29, Timofti would have had to dissolve the legislature and call early elections.

In December, Ion Sturza, a wealthy pro-Western businessman with dual Moldovan-Romanian citizenship, was tasked with forming a new government, but parliament rejected his nomination.