"Twitter Revolution" in Moldova

Thursday 30 April 09

The Moldovan capital, Chisinau, was rocked by protests earlier this month amid claims that an election which returned the Communist Party to power was rigged.

Ms Natalia Morar, 25, officially charged with masterminding Moldova's "Twitter revolution" - so dubbed because many demonstrators were alerted to the protests by text and social networking tools.
"It just happened through Twitter, the blogosphere, the internet, texts, websites and all this stuff. We just met, we brainstormed for 15 minutes, and decided to make a flash mob [internet-organised spontaneous public gathering]...
"In several hours, 15,000 people came out into the street."

New technology confronted old autocracy: on one side, the Moldovan communist president, Vladimir Voronin, a man who is not only a former Soviet secret police boss but also the father of the country's richest man; on the other side, the forces of modernity, youth and social networking. The young organisers expected 1,000 demonstrators. Thanks to technology, more than 10,000 arrived.

In a subtle Northern Ireland link a number of our politicians are also on the twitter on www.twitter.com.