CHISINAU, March 12. /TASS/. Clashes between the police and participants in a thousand-strong protest rally took place in central Chisinau on Sunday, according to a TASS correspondent.

The protesters were marching to the city’ central square chanting "Away with dictatorship," "Away with [Moldovan President] Maaia Sandu" when they were stopped by the police. The demonstrators clashed with the police trying to break through the cordon, but changed their route and headed to the parliament building and the presidential residence. They demand the country’s leaders come out to them. Lawmakers with the opposition party Sor Vadim Fotescu, Regina Apostolova and the party’s deputy leader Marina Tauber were negotiating with law enforcement officers demanding they let the protesters hold a rally.

"Fifty-four participants in the protest action, including 21 minors, have been detained for demonstrating suspicious behavior and holding prohibited objects. They were taken to police stations for identification," it said, posting the photos of the young people and a penknife and a pepper-spray pellet seized from them.

The protest organizers accused the authorities of organizing provocations and of illegal actions to frustrate the peaceful rally. "Today, there have been an incredible number of provocations staged by the authorities and police. They illegally stopped buses with people, but despite this, thousands of protesters are walking to the capital city by foot. Others organized rallied where they were stopped, thus spreading the protests across the country," Vadim Fotescu, a leader of the Movement for the People and a parliament member, told a briefing.

Leaders of the protests pledged earlier that the protest actions would be peaceful and accused the authorities of staging provocations. The demonstrators lambast the authorities for their inability to curb skyrocketing prices and the record-breaking inflation, which stood at 30% in 2022. People also demand the parliament dissolution and the president’s resignation.

Grass-roots protests have been held in Moldova since last summer. Demonstrators demand the resignation of Moldovan President Maia Sandu and the country’s government, who they blamed for the economic crisis that brought about skyrocketing prices for food, gas, energy, utilities, gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as inflation that hit 34% in annual terms. The country’s leaders are criticized for their reluctance to negotiate more favorable gas prices with Russia, for their jingoist statements, and political pressure on the opposition.