RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's new Parliament convened on Monday amid a raucous protest by supporters of a pro-Russia party excluded from power and signs of political instability after several lawmakers withdrew from the governing coalition.

Some 2,000 supporters of Harmony Center, a center-left party with close ties to Moscow that won last month's election, gathered outside Parliament early in the morning to vent their frustration over Harmony's exclusion from the coalition.

In the 20 years since Latvia regained independence from Russia no party catering to the country's ethnic Russians and minorities — about one-third of the country's 2.2 million people — has been included in government. That remains a sensitive issue in Latvia.

Harmony, which caters to ethnic Russian and minority interests, won 31 seats in the 100-member legislature in last month's snap election but was kept out of a coalition agreement reached last week by three predominantly Latvian parties.

However, on Sunday six lawmakers announced their withdrawal from the Zatlers' Reform Party — the largest of the three coalition parties — meaning the next government would only have 50 seats in Parliament.

President Andris Berzins told Latvian Radio on Monday morning that a coalition with only half of parliamentary seats would not last three years until the next election and that all parties should reopen talks.

Compared with previous years, coalition talks were particularly difficult since forming a majority boiled down to including either radical nationalists or Harmony Center, which in the past signed a cooperation agreement with the Kremlin-sponsored United Russia party.

The two core Latvian parties — Zatlers' Reform Party and Unity — chose the nationalists.

In a show of support to Harmony, protesters banged drums, blew horns and waved signs on Monday, saying "No ethnic discrimination" and "The boat has enough space for all."

Police said the protest was peaceful.

Parliament is expected to confirm the next government later this week. It is expected that Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis will remain in his post.

Latvia has just emerged from what the International Monetary Fund has called the worst recession in the world, with economic activity shrinking by nearly one-fourth over a three-year period. The Baltic country was forced to turn to international lenders to avoid a bailout, and in December 2008 signed onto a €7.5 billion ($10.2 billion) bailout loan.

Latvia's economy is expected to grow 4.5 percent this year.