Romanians march to demand reunification with Moldova

A man is detained by riot police after scuffles broke out during a rally demanding the reunification of Romania and Moldova, in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016. More than 2,000 people have marched through the Romanian capital demanding that their country reunites with neighboring Moldova and blocked traffic on a main boulevard in the Romanian capital after scuffles with riot police. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) (The Associated Press)

Riot police blocks protesters after scuffles broke during a rally demanding the reunification of Romania and Moldova, in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016. More than 2,000 people have marched through the Romanian capital demanding that their country reunites with neighboring Moldova and blocked traffic on a main boulevard in the Romanian capital after scuffles with riot police. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) (The Associated Press)

A man with his face painted in the Romanian and Moldovan flag colors, attends a rally demanding the reunification of Romania and Moldova, in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016. More than 2,000 people have marched through the Romanian capital demanding that their country reunites with neighboring Moldova and blocked traffic on a main boulevard in the Romanian capital after scuffles with riot police. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) (The Associated Press)

More than 2,000 people have marched through the Romanian capital demanding that their country reunites with neighboring Moldova.

Demonstrators waved the virtually identical Romanian and Moldovan flags as they filed down the city's main streets on Saturday. They shouted "Bassarabia is part of Romania," using the historical name for Moldova.

Some briefly scuffled with police. A photographer for The Associated Press saw police detain two people after fights broke out.

Moldova was part of Romania until 1940, when it was annexed to the Soviet Union, and declared independence in 1991. Some four-fifths of Moldovans, an Eastern European country of 4 million, are of Romanian descent.

However, the reunification cause does not have much support in either Romania or Moldova.