Romanian president Nicușor Dan laid wreaths on Friday, June 13, at the Monument dedicated to the memory of the victims of the June 13–15, 1990 Mineriad and at the “Kilometer Zero of Democracy” Monument.
The violent events of June 1990 remain in post-communist memory as the “June 13–15, 1990 Mineriad” and refer to the repression, by law enforcement forces with the help of miners and workers, of pro-democracy protest rallies in Bucharest’s University Square during that period. Four people died and over 1,300 were injured following the miners’ attack.
“Even to this day, after 35 years, justice has not issued a final ruling in the Mineriad case. A verdict is missing that would close so many traumas and sufferings. Justice has the duty to bring clarity not only to identify and sanction the guilty, but also as a necessary act of respect for Romanian society’s right to know the truth,” president Dan said.
Asked by a victim beaten during the 1990 Mineriad whether the trial to establish the perpetrators will have an outcome and whether he would get involved, Nicușor Dan responded affirmatively. He also said, however, that it will not be the primary objective in the coming months.
Nevertheless, the memory of the Mineriad is still alive in the minds of many. The demonstrations that started the affair were directed against the government then led by the National Salvation Front and against president Ion Iliescu and had begun as early as April 22, 1990, after an electoral rally of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants’ Party (PNȚCD).
After the rally, a few hundred people blocked University Square in central Bucharest. In the following days, hundreds of thousands gathered in the square, declaring it a “Neocommunism-Free Zone.” The University balcony was opened, from where student leaders, intellectuals, revolutionaries, actors, and figures from the cultural and scientific fields spoke against the National Salvation Front led by Ion Iliescu, according to Free Europe Romania.
The demonstrators quickly formed a list of demands, such as the barring from public office of former communist activists and former Securitate members, the Point 8 of the Timișoara Proclamation.
Presidential elections took place in May, 1990, the following month, and Ion Iliescu was confirmed as the winner with 85% of votes. The National Salvation Front won the parliamentary elections held on the same day, with 67% of votes, despite its earlier promises to not take part in the elections.
After that, some demonstrators withdrew from the University Square, while others remained and even went on hunger strikes. The leaders of the government began plans to remove the demonstrators, and on June 11 police intervened in force and began making arrests. Security forces were joined by workers from the IMGB plant joined the police. Slogans were chanted that would enter the dark history of post-December democracy: “IMGB brings order!”, “Death to intellectuals!”, “We work, we don’t think!”
As evening fell, Iliescu called on Romanians to help law enforcement restore order and accused the demonstrators of being legionaries. On June 14, miners from the Jiu Valley arrived in Bucharest, where former president Ion Iliescu urged them to occupy University Square. Demonstrators were brutally beaten by the miners, and multiple faculties were ransacked. Several independent newspapers and magazines and the headquarters of opposition parties were stormed by miners.
On June 15, in the face of growing international pressure, Ion Iliescu thanked the miners for restoring order in the capital and for the “civic sense” they had shown.
(Photo source: Nicusor Dan on Facebook)
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