CHISINAU, February 19. /TASS/. Around 40,000 people took part in opposition protests in Chisinau on Sunday and 10,000 more were stopped by the police on the approaches to the city, Marina Tauber, a Moldovan lawmaker and a leader of the Movement for the People, the organizer of the protest, said.

"Today, 40,000 people took part in our peaceful rally. Ten thousand more could not come because their buses and cars were stopped by the police," she said addressing the rally in front of the Opera Theater.

The demonstrators placed old clothes in front of the entrance to the building along with posters featuring limousines, country villas and other properties owned by lawmakers and ministers representing the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity, a TASS correspondent reported.

"People have brought these old clothes here to show that they have to sell all they have to pay utility bills, which have jumped up nearly eight-fold. It is the government’s fault and we demand the authorities pay people’s bills for the winter months. People insist on the resignation of the ruling party which has demonstrated its inability to resolve economic and social problems. The country needs early elections," Tauber stressed.

The pally passed a resolution giving the authorities a week to implement their demands and pay people’s electricity bills for the winter.

The protest was organized by lawmakers with the opposition party Sor, off-parliament parties and politicians who have earlier united in the Movement for the People.