Twitter Fuels Moldovan Anti-Communist Riots

Thousands of young Moldovans have been using Twitter and other social networking sites to mobilize against the Communist Party's election victory, the New York Times reports. A crowd of some10,000 young activists, accusing the government of vote-rigging in Sunday's race, clashed with riot police outside the country's parliament yesterday, lighting fires and ransacking government buildings.

The protesters used Twitter to rally supporters until internet service in the capital was abruptly cut off. Observers said the protesters' use of social networking technology demonstrates the generational split in Moldovan society, with older residents longing for Soviet-era stability and younger Moldovans—many of whom worked elsewhere in Europe until the financial crisis hit—seeking better integration with the West.
(More Moldova stories.)