Chisinau - Hundreds of Moldovan students irate at a recent Communist win in national elections broke into the parliament building on Tuesday, breaking windows and setting furniture on fire.

Police initially used water cannon in an attempt to control the crowd in the central districts of the Moldovan capital. More than than 10,000 protestors had gathered in the centre by mid-afternoon with more arriving.

Police by mid-afternoon had apparently abandoned their defence of government buildings in the centre of the city. At least 10 policemen were injured in fights with the crowd.

One group of students tore the front door of the residence of the Moldovan President, and set it on fire, according to eyewitnesses.

Some youth during the chaos chanted "Moldova has awoken," "We want to join Europe!" and "We want to join Romania!"

European Union and Romanian flags were visible hanging from windows of both the parliament building, and the Presidential residence.

Paper and debris littered courtyards in front of both buildings, as students hurled contents of government offices out onto the footpath.

One group of protestors threw rocks at Yury Roscu, leader of Communist-supporting Christian Democrat party, as they looked out the crowd from the seventh floor of the parliament building. The rocks failed to reach him.

Julian Fruntasu, a spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (LDPM), told the Infotag news agency the protests were justified "because the Communists lost the elections."

But other opposition leaders said the students were "acting on their own", without political party involvement.

Moldova's Communist Party headed by President Vladimir Voronin captured some 55 per cent of popular support in Sunday voting for a new parliament.

Three opposition parties also were on track to place deputies in the legislature, but eight other parties failed to attract enough support to gain an MP slot.

International monitoring groups including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the vote was generally democratic, with few violations of election law.

But opposition parties in the wake of the election claimed the vote was inherently unfair, as the election campaign was conducted with strong Communist party control of major media and regional governments. (dpa)