April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests

April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests
Protests in Chișinău after the April 2009 elections
Date	6–12 April 2009 (6 days)
Location	Chișinău, Cahul, Orhei, Bălți 13 cities in Romania, including Bucharest Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, London 47°01′40″N 28°49′40″E / 47.02778°N 28.82778°E / 47.02778; 28.82778
Caused by	Alleged electoral fraud
Goals	New free and fair elections
Resulted in	Recount finds no irregularities that would change election outcome Police brutality against arrested and detained protestors Diplomatic row with Romania for three months after President of Moldova accuses the country of driving the protests Parliament fails to elect a new President during the following presidential election Snap parliamentary election triggered, which are won by a coalition of opposition parties Original copy of 1991 Moldovan Declaration of Independence unintentionally burned during protests
Concessions	Constitutional Court of Moldova authorizes a recount of all votes
Parties
Protesters Anti-communist demonstrators[1] Romanian students Pro-EU activists[2] Moldovan opposition Liberal Party Liberal Democratic Party Our Moldova Alliance Democratic Party of Moldova Government of Moldova Moldovan Police Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova
Lead figures
No centralized leadership Vladimir Voronin Zinaida Greceanîi
Number
Protesters: around 50,000[3]
Casualties
Death(s)	4[4][5][6][7]
Injuries	270[8]
Arrested	Hundreds

Wikinews has related news:

• Election in Moldova instigates rioting mob demanding recount

Protests against the April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election results began on 6 April 2009 in major cities of Moldova (including Bălți and the capital, Chișinău) before the final official results were announced. The demonstrators claimed that the elections, which saw the governing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) win a majority of seats, were fraudulent, and alternatively demanded a recount, a new election, or resignation of the government. Similar demonstrations took place in other major Moldovan cities, including the country's second largest, Bălți, where over 7,000 people protested.^{[citation needed]}

The protests and wave of violence is sometimes described as the "grape revolution" but the term was not used much by outsiders; in Moldova, it is sometimes referred as the Chisinău Uprising (Romanian: Revolta de la Chișinău). Some of the protesters discussed and organized themselves using Twitter, hence its moniker used by the media, the Twitter Revolution.^{[9][10][11][12]} In Chișinău, where the number of protesters rose above 30,000, the demonstration escalated into a riot on 7 April. Rioters attacked the parliament building and presidential office, breaking windows, setting furniture on fire and stealing property.