The Anti-communist Uprising of 1989
The anti-communist protest began on December 15, 1989 in Timisoara and quickly spread around the country
Valentin Țigău, 15.12.2014, 13:56
People took to the streets of Timisoara on the 16th of December 1989 to show their support for a Reformed pastor of ethnic Hungarian origin who was facing expulsion from church. Pastor Laszlo Tokes had been under pressure from the political police for a few weeks for criticising dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
The solidarity demonstrations started in fact on the 15th of December, and two days later army armoured vehicles appeared on the streets of Timisoara under order to shoot at the people demonstrating against life under Ceausescu and against communism. Almost 100 people were killed and thousands wounded over the course of four days, despite the fact that many soldiers refused to carry out their orders and fraternised with the protesters. The tragedy in Timisoara was to bring about the fall of the Ceausescu regime.
On the 20th of December, the people of Timisoara declared their city the first city free of communism in Romania. Commemoration events have been held ever year around this time, and this year they will be attended by Romania’s president elect Klaus Iohannis. A day of mourning will be held on the 17th of December to pay tribute to the victims of the Romanian anti-communist uprising.
Twenty-five years after the collapse of communism in their country, Romanians still say that given the choice between democracy and communism, they would choose the former, especially people aged between 31 and 50, 85% of whom chose democracy over communism. According to a recent INSCOP Research poll, respondents say Traian Basescu, whose second term in office comes to an end on the 21st of December, is the post-communist president who did the most for the country.
Despite the social difficulties faced during transition and the obvious shortcomings of the democratic system, the huge majority of Romanians are strongly attached to the idea of democracy, which, according to sociologists, represents the biggest gain, historically speaking, for the Romanian nation. The Barometer on Romania conducted by INSCOP Research between November 27th and December 2nd on a sample of 1,076 people is representative for Romania’s population. Its margin of error is +/- 3%.
