The mayor of the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, has urged antigovernment protesters to refrain from violence a day after they clashed with police during their four-week-long demonstration.
Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said on October 5 that "It would be good if every person wishing to protest, every organizer of protests...would realize that any protest makes sense and is efficient only if it is peaceful."
Some 10,000 people protested the previous day in central Chisinau in their call for the government and president to resign over corruption and a scandal last year in which more than $1 billion disappeared from banks.
Scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators when the protesters tried to enter the parliament building.
Antigovernment protests began on September 6 when tens of thousands gathered to demand a probe into the bank scandal.
There were some 450 tents set up in front of parliament and in a nearby pedestrian square.
