<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nviolent outbursts of June 13-15, 1990, having miners’ arrival in Bucharest as
\ntheir momentum as well as the miners’ lashing out at Romanian capital city’s
\ncivilian population meant that Romanian society was backtracking on democracy,
\nwithin six months since Romanians had regained their freedom in December 1989.
\nThe events back then proved that a society that had freshly emerged from a
\ntotalitarian political regime still had the demons of the past to fight before
\nit healed completely. In June 1990, it was for the third time that Bucharest
\nhad been stormed by the miners, in a bid to back the then National Salvation
\nFront against opposition parties. Among other things, miners’ riots were in
\nfact a manifestation of hatred and intolerance against democratic pluralism
\nwhich at that time was very difficult to become functional in Romania. Against
\nthe backdrop of the protest rallies mounted by the Opposition in April 1990 and
\nin the aftermath of the election held on May 20, 1990, won by the National
\nSalvation Front, tension was literally spiraling. On June 30, 1990, the state
\ninstitutions tried to quash the protest rallies in University Square, which was
\nthe beginning of three-day long violent clashes that eventually claimed the
\nlives of 6 people, leaving 750 other wounded. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What
\nhappened over June 13-15 was a one-of-a-kind event. The historian Cristian Vasile told us what was so very unique about that
\nevent. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of the historians placed it against the backdrop of the time span
\nthat occurred immediately after communism in Romania, describing it as the last
\nrepression of a communist origin ever to have been staged in the country. And
\nthey are right, I think, because manifestations back then, consisting in the
\nreprisal of part of the civilian population, have certain points in common with
\nwhat happened in national history immediately after 1944. An explanation of
\nthat could be the fact that the political staff and political practices of
\nMarch, 1945, continued even after that date. The common political practice of instigating
\ncivilians against one another was also implemented in June 1990.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It has
\nbeen said that miners’ riots of June 1990 were made possible by the state
\ninstitutions being weak, by the riot police failing to quash protest rallies on
\nJune 13. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian Cristian Vasile:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I also tend to believe in the theory of the riot police being weak and
\nunable to contain certain forms of popular unrest. If we have a closer look at
\nhow things developed over June 13 and 15, mostly on June 13 as that is the
\nclimactic day, we can indeed see the riot police slackening, but there are also
\na couple of issues that have been hitherto unexplained. There are several recordings,
\nreal recordings, there are those radio interventions of then the deputy
\nInterior Minister, general Diamandescu, who said something like we are going
\nto set the buses ablaze, as agreed, to the recipient of his messages. What are
\nwe to make of that kind of exchange? Then there are concordant testimonies
\nwhereby there were not the rioters who set fire on the police building in the
\ncapital city, but the building was set ablaze from the inside. Also unexplained is how hundreds of policemen retreated with no defense, leaving
\nthe Interior Ministry building also unprotected.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nnew power embodied by Ion Iliescu had to be strengthened through the
\nmanipulation of the crowds, so most of those who analyzed miners’ riots view
\nthat as a meaningful explanation of events back then.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian Cristian Vasile:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The unrest that flared up in University Square and Victoria Road was
\nquashed around midnight on the night to of June 13 and all through to 3 am, on June
\n14. Riot police managed to have everything under control, rioters had been
\narrested. The miners came a little bit later, they were welcomed by the then
\npresident Ion Iliescu. Instead of defusing the tension, telling the miners the
\narmy and the police had everything under control, Ion Iliescu invited them to
\noccupy University Square. What was the purpose of such a move, since a couple
\nof hours earlier the police and the army totally controlled the situation? That
\nutterly reckless invitation led to the violent clashes that broke out on June
\n14, in the morning, and on the following day. So all in all, it was an
\nabsolutely pointless instigation to violence, a criminal act which was worthy
\nof the Criminal Code. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The miners’ riots of June 1990 were one last
\nconvulsion of the communist mindset, in a society that had but newly emerged
\nfrom the collapse of the communist regime in December 1989.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cristian Vasile:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why the miners? Attempts were made with other categories of workers,
\neven over June 13 and 14. There is official evidence of a call being made for
\nworkers from Bucharest, of several factories and plants, of the August 23 Plants
\nand suchlike. Quite a few of the unions turned down the proposal and refused to
\nintervene, on the grounds that the conflict was of a political nature and it
\nwas not for them to set things to rights. Yet it appears that the miners as a
\ncategory were more receptive to the propaganda of the then National Salvation
\nFront, of Iliescu’s regime. As for Ion Iliescu, he has been defending himself
\nclaiming he did not make his call to the miners alone, but to all responsible
\nsocial forces. But that is an aggravating circumstance for somebody who is the
\npresident of a country. And it is here that the tragedy of those episode lies,
\nthere was the buoyancy of part of the Bucharest population who literally gave
\nminers rounds of applause for what they were doing. And what they did was to
\nbeat young students to a pulp, as well as bearded men or women wearing
\nmini-skirts. Which was a stark reminder of Ceausescu’s policy, of rockers being
\nhunted in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nprice Romania had to pay for miners’ riots of June 13-15, 1990, was its own
\ninternational isolation. Specifically, that meant the agreement with the IMF
\nbeing frozen, but also the impossibility to contract another loan.
\nPolitically, miners’ riots of June 1990 stalled Romania’s gaining accession to
\nthe Council of Europe. It was not until 1993 that Romania became a member of
\nthe Council of Europe, much later than many other countries of the former
\nSoviet Bloc.<\/p>\n
(Translation by Eugen Nasta)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Miners’ riots, thirty years on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":82225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42872,38197,42871],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-instigation","tag-miners-riots","tag-unrest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n