June 1990 Mineriad
Encyclopedia
The June 1990 Mineriad was the suppression of an anti-National Salvation Front (FSN) sit-in protests in Bucharest
, Romania
by the violent intervention of coal miners from the Jiu Valley
, brought to Bucharest by the government to counter the rising violence of the protesters. This event occurred several weeks after the FSN achieved a landslide victory in the May 1990 general election, the first elections after the fall of the Ceauşescu
regime. Many of the miners, factory workers, and other anti-protester groups, fought with and wounded many of the protesters and bystanders. Official figures listed seven fatalities and hundreds of injured, although media estimates of the number killed and injured varied widely and were often much higher.
was tempered in January 1990, after the National Salvation Front
(Frontul Salvării Naţionale, FSN), an organization that emerged as the leader during the anti-Ceauşescu revolution, decided to run as a party in the elections it was set to organize. Further discontent was brought by fact that many of the FSN leaders, including its president, Ion Iliescu
, were former members of the Romanian Communist Party
. At the moment of the 1989 Revolution, the Communist Party had a membership of 4 million in a population of 22 million.
The newly founded parties that opposed the FSN organised, beginning with April, large electoral meetings in University Square
. Students and professors at the University of Bucharest
also joined in the protests. One of their most vocal demands was the voting into law of the eighth demand of the Proclamation of Timişoara
, which stated that communists should be prevented from holding official functions.
Iliescu dubbed the protesters as golani (rascals) or huligani (hooligans
) and implied fascists groups participated in the protest in an attempt to seize the power. The protesters eventually adopted the name golani and the movement came to be known as the Golaniad
.
After Iliescu and the FSN won a landslide victory in the elections of May 20, the opposition parties decided to disband the meeting. Only a small part of the protesters remained in the square, where they set up tents. After several weeks, the government decided to forcefully evacuate the remaining protesters, but the police attempts were met with violence, and several state institutions, including the police headquarters, the national television station, and Foreign Ministry, were attacked.President Iliescu issued a call to Romania's population to come to Bucharest in order to save the "besieged democratic regime" and restore order and democracy in Bucharest. The most important group to answer the call were the powerful miners organizations from Jiu Valley. Some 10,000 miners were transported in special trains to Bucharest.
(TVR) station, calling for its political independence. They continued their protest in University Square and decided to sit in overnight. Two days later, they were still there, their numbers growing. They stated that they would not leave the Square, dubbing their protest "the big anti-communism protest".
Their main demands were the adoption of point 8 of the Proclamation of Timişoara
(no former members of the disbanded Romanian Communist Party
in the new government), the political independence of TVR, and inquiries about the truth of the Revolution
. The Geology Faculty's balcony became the stage for almost a month of protest. The opposition decided to abandon protests after FSN's victory in the May elections.
On 11 June, negotiations between the government and the remaining demonstrators failed. About 100 people, dissatisfied with the result of the dialogue between the government and the hunger strikers, started rioting in Victoria Square (Piaţa Victoriei) and closed in on Victoria Palace (Palatul Victoriei, the government's headquarters).
Police
, military police and army forces appeared, together with some armoured personnel carrier
s. The police pushed the demonstrators back to Calea Victoriei
and retreated towards the Palace.
forces attacked the hunger strike
rs. Tents were ripped up and destroyed, and personal objects were confiscated. Strikers were arrested, but some escaped and took refuge in the hall of the InterContinental Hotel.
5:00: Police attacked the Architecture Institute (Institutul de Arhitectură), surrounded the Square and built barricade
s out of vehicles. The representatives of the Police Press Bureau declared that they didn't know what was happening in the city centre.
9:30: Demonstrators appeared around the barricade built between Colţea Hospital and "Luceafărul" Cinema and started chanting anti-government protests. Many arrests took place.
11:00: The number of arrests was made public by radio: about 240. At the Architecture Faculty (Facultatea de Arhitectură) there was a press conference of students and hunger strikers who were attacked but had managed to evade arrest.
12:00: The Architecture Institute was assaulted by a group of workers from the Bucharest's industrial platforms, shouting: "I.M.G.B. makes the law!". Another group, mostly of women, shouted: "I.C.T.B. makes the law!", brandishing makeshift weapons. The students barricaded themselves, but the building was assaulted. The police showed up. Other groups shouted anti-governmental slogans and split apart the two groups of workers.
14:00: From the Academiei and Colţei streets protesters launch Molotov cocktail
s. In the area in the vicinity of the University, Architecture Institute and the Negoiu Hotel, the crowd shouted and booed. The police appeared, but withdrew because people were throwing bottles and rocks from the rooftops.
17:30: The demonstrators smashed the police barrage and reach the balcony. More policemen appeared, but were forced to withdraw under the heavy "artillery barrage" of rocks and bottles. An explosion set fire to the police bus that blocked the entry to the square. The police withdraw and the square was occupied. At the truck barricade on Oneşti street a bus was set on fire. At the balcony of the Geology College (Facultatea de Geologie), Marian Munteanu
, head of the Student League from the University of Bucharest, announced that the students were on strike and would barricade themselves in the building until their arrested colleagues were released. Shortly thereafter, the main HQs of the Bucharest Police, Interior Minister and SRI were attacked. Protesters threw Molotov cocktail
s, started fires, conducted various acts of violence, destroyed documents and objects, and took people hostage. There were rumours that trains full of miners were heading for Bucharest.
Ion Iliescu
addressed the public, urging them to oppose the violent acts and do everything they could to re-establish order.
18:00: Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Television yard
, although the zone was guarded by police and civilians. Protesters armed with clubs
and other improvised weapons went to the entrance to Pangratti Street. Violence ensued and broadcasting was interrupted. In the Television building, the film archive was destroyed, along with IBM
subtitle
machines, montage rooms and mobile phones. Telephone wires were cut, documents were stolen or destroyed, windows were broken and people were violently attacked.
reached Bucharest, on trains commissioned, according to the miners' leader Miron Cozma
and subsequent Parliamentary inquiries, by Traian Băsescu
, transport minister at the time. They headed for Victoria Square, where they were welcomed and bread was distributed to them from army vehicles.
A number of officials appeared at the Council of Ministers at Victoria Square, and finally Iliescu showed up accompanied by representatives of the miners. In his speech he accused the demonstrators of the University Square of being alcoholics, drug addicts, fascists (making reference to the Iron Guard
"Legionnaires" of the World War II
era), and bandits. In the square were also groups carrying banners showing that they are from particular factories.
During this period, the Opposition newspapers and magazines România Liberă
, Dreptatea
, Express, 22, Baricada were attacked and damaged, and some of the newspaper workers were assaulted. The building where România Liberă was printed was damaged. România Liberă and several publications of opposition political groups were not published in the interval of 15–18 June, as the typography workers refused to print the anti-government articles. The student demonstrators and protesters were engaged in violent confrontation with workers and other pro-government groups. The University and Architecture Institute was devastated and many students badly beaten.
From 14–15 June arrests of the people involved in the demonstration of University Square continued.
alleged that over 128 unidentified bodies were buried in a common grave in Străuleşti II cemetery, near Bucharest. The records of the Neurosurgery department of the Municipal Hospital from Bucharest showed that hundreds of severely wounded people were treated in those days, of which 60 died in the next months.
, from the events of 13–15 June 185 people were arrested; 34 put on trial; 2 freed unconditionally; 17 freed under parole after medical examinations; 81 freed under parole; 51 remained under arrest.
The demonstrations in University Square persisted until about 24–25 August 1990.
, Dimineaţa, Azi) praised the miners and other workers for being the "defenders of liberty and democracy" and criticized the negative coverage of the international press who, they claim, saw only one part of the issue.
The official government position on the foreign press opinion was expressed on 15 June 1990 by Prime Minister Petre Roman
. He declared that the international press had a "strange" point of view and that the intervention against the opposition was not a "fascist program", but it was the other way around, the protesters being the fascists.
The Jiu Valley miners were vilified in the national and international press for their role in the confrontation and the subsequent violence and destruction. Subsequent interviews with miners participating in the confrontation provide a very different perspective of the events that transpired. Many claim that individuals reportedly representing the government came to the mines and union groups and told the miners that the new democracy was under attack by anarchists and provocateurs who wanted to bring down the elected government. It was their duty, the miners were told, to protect Romania and the new democracy. Few, if any, of the miners had any connection with or knowledge of the protesters and their demands, so they followed the direction of individuals they believed represented the government. In the view of many individuals in Jiu Valley, most of the violence was perpetuated by non-miners or agents provocateurs dressed like miners. The perspective that the Bucharest-controlled media refused to provide their version of events was and continues to be widely held throughout the Jiu Valley.
(Romanian Intelligence Service), the successor to the former Securitate
), in the instigation and manipulation of the June 1990 Mineriad contributed to the widespread public mistrust of the post-Ceauşescu
Romanian intelligence service.
Government inquiries would show that the miners had indeed been "joined by vigilantes who were later credibly identified as former officers of the Securitate", and that for two days, the miners had been aided and abetted by former Securitate
members in their violent confrontation with the protesters and other targets.
In February 1994 a Bucharest court "found two security officers, Colonel Ion. Nicolae and warrant officer Corneliu Dumitrescu, guilty of ransacking the house of Ion Raţiu, a leading figure in the National Peasant Christian Democratic Party, during the miners’ incursion, and stealing $100,000."
In addition to accusations of having agents infiltrate and incite the opposition rally in 18 February 1990 and later directly participate in the June 1990 anti-opposition violence involving the Jiu Valley miners, there was also evidence that during this period that the Service was involved in distributing fake Legionary leaflets that claimed a fascist take-over in Romania was about to occur, and evidence that intelligence officials selectively released documents from Securitate archives in order to compromise opposition leaders.
According to a research report put out by the Conflict Studies Research Centre at Britain's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst:
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
by the violent intervention of coal miners from the Jiu Valley
Jiu Valley
The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...
, brought to Bucharest by the government to counter the rising violence of the protesters. This event occurred several weeks after the FSN achieved a landslide victory in the May 1990 general election, the first elections after the fall of the Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
regime. Many of the miners, factory workers, and other anti-protester groups, fought with and wounded many of the protesters and bystanders. Official figures listed seven fatalities and hundreds of injured, although media estimates of the number killed and injured varied widely and were often much higher.
Background
The initial enthusiasm after the Romanian Revolution of 1989Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
was tempered in January 1990, after the National Salvation Front
National Salvation Front
The National Salvation Front was the governing body of Romania in the first weeks after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, subsequently turned into a political party...
(Frontul Salvării Naţionale, FSN), an organization that emerged as the leader during the anti-Ceauşescu revolution, decided to run as a party in the elections it was set to organize. Further discontent was brought by fact that many of the FSN leaders, including its president, Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....
, were former members of the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
. At the moment of the 1989 Revolution, the Communist Party had a membership of 4 million in a population of 22 million.
The newly founded parties that opposed the FSN organised, beginning with April, large electoral meetings in University Square
University Square, Bucharest
University Square is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.Four statues are located in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Michael the Brave , Gheorghe Lazăr and Spiru Haret .The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad,...
. Students and professors at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
also joined in the protests. One of their most vocal demands was the voting into law of the eighth demand of the Proclamation of Timişoara
Proclamation of Timisoara
The Proclamation of Timişoara was a thirteen-point written document, drafted on March 11, 1990 by the Timişoara participants in Romania's 1989 Revolution, and partly issued in reaction to the first Mineriad...
, which stated that communists should be prevented from holding official functions.
Iliescu dubbed the protesters as golani (rascals) or huligani (hooligans
Hooliganism
Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
) and implied fascists groups participated in the protest in an attempt to seize the power. The protesters eventually adopted the name golani and the movement came to be known as the Golaniad
Golaniad
The Golaniad was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest....
.
After Iliescu and the FSN won a landslide victory in the elections of May 20, the opposition parties decided to disband the meeting. Only a small part of the protesters remained in the square, where they set up tents. After several weeks, the government decided to forcefully evacuate the remaining protesters, but the police attempts were met with violence, and several state institutions, including the police headquarters, the national television station, and Foreign Ministry, were attacked.President Iliescu issued a call to Romania's population to come to Bucharest in order to save the "besieged democratic regime" and restore order and democracy in Bucharest. The most important group to answer the call were the powerful miners organizations from Jiu Valley. Some 10,000 miners were transported in special trains to Bucharest.
Prelude
On 22 April, the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (Partidul Naţional Ţărănesc Creştin şi Democrat, PNŢCD, now the Christian-Democratic People's Party) and other parties organised a demonstration in Aviators' Square. After the peaceful demonstration, groups of people marched towards the Romanian TelevisionTeleviziunea Româna
Televiziunea Română , more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Românǎ de Televiziune ; acronym: SRTV. SRTV is the national state-owned public service television broadcaster of Romania...
(TVR) station, calling for its political independence. They continued their protest in University Square and decided to sit in overnight. Two days later, they were still there, their numbers growing. They stated that they would not leave the Square, dubbing their protest "the big anti-communism protest".
Their main demands were the adoption of point 8 of the Proclamation of Timişoara
Proclamation of Timisoara
The Proclamation of Timişoara was a thirteen-point written document, drafted on March 11, 1990 by the Timişoara participants in Romania's 1989 Revolution, and partly issued in reaction to the first Mineriad...
(no former members of the disbanded Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
in the new government), the political independence of TVR, and inquiries about the truth of the Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
. The Geology Faculty's balcony became the stage for almost a month of protest. The opposition decided to abandon protests after FSN's victory in the May elections.
On 11 June, negotiations between the government and the remaining demonstrators failed. About 100 people, dissatisfied with the result of the dialogue between the government and the hunger strikers, started rioting in Victoria Square (Piaţa Victoriei) and closed in on Victoria Palace (Palatul Victoriei, the government's headquarters).
Police
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
, military police and army forces appeared, together with some armoured personnel carrier
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...
s. The police pushed the demonstrators back to Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei is a major avenue in central Bucharest. It leads from Splaiul Independenţei to the north and then northwest up to Piaţa Victoriei, where Şoseaua Kiseleff continues north....
and retreated towards the Palace.
13 June
4:00 AM: The policeRomanian Police
The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
forces attacked the hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
rs. Tents were ripped up and destroyed, and personal objects were confiscated. Strikers were arrested, but some escaped and took refuge in the hall of the InterContinental Hotel.
5:00: Police attacked the Architecture Institute (Institutul de Arhitectură), surrounded the Square and built barricade
Barricade
Barricade, from the French barrique , is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction...
s out of vehicles. The representatives of the Police Press Bureau declared that they didn't know what was happening in the city centre.
9:30: Demonstrators appeared around the barricade built between Colţea Hospital and "Luceafărul" Cinema and started chanting anti-government protests. Many arrests took place.
11:00: The number of arrests was made public by radio: about 240. At the Architecture Faculty (Facultatea de Arhitectură) there was a press conference of students and hunger strikers who were attacked but had managed to evade arrest.
12:00: The Architecture Institute was assaulted by a group of workers from the Bucharest's industrial platforms, shouting: "I.M.G.B. makes the law!". Another group, mostly of women, shouted: "I.C.T.B. makes the law!", brandishing makeshift weapons. The students barricaded themselves, but the building was assaulted. The police showed up. Other groups shouted anti-governmental slogans and split apart the two groups of workers.
14:00: From the Academiei and Colţei streets protesters launch Molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s. In the area in the vicinity of the University, Architecture Institute and the Negoiu Hotel, the crowd shouted and booed. The police appeared, but withdrew because people were throwing bottles and rocks from the rooftops.
17:30: The demonstrators smashed the police barrage and reach the balcony. More policemen appeared, but were forced to withdraw under the heavy "artillery barrage" of rocks and bottles. An explosion set fire to the police bus that blocked the entry to the square. The police withdraw and the square was occupied. At the truck barricade on Oneşti street a bus was set on fire. At the balcony of the Geology College (Facultatea de Geologie), Marian Munteanu
Marian Munteanu
Marian Munteanu was the leader of the anti-communist protests that took place in 1990 in Romania and were ended violently by the intervention of the miners ....
, head of the Student League from the University of Bucharest, announced that the students were on strike and would barricade themselves in the building until their arrested colleagues were released. Shortly thereafter, the main HQs of the Bucharest Police, Interior Minister and SRI were attacked. Protesters threw Molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s, started fires, conducted various acts of violence, destroyed documents and objects, and took people hostage. There were rumours that trains full of miners were heading for Bucharest.
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....
addressed the public, urging them to oppose the violent acts and do everything they could to re-establish order.
18:00: Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Television yard
Televiziunea Româna
Televiziunea Română , more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Românǎ de Televiziune ; acronym: SRTV. SRTV is the national state-owned public service television broadcaster of Romania...
, although the zone was guarded by police and civilians. Protesters armed with clubs
Club (weapon)
A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....
and other improvised weapons went to the entrance to Pangratti Street. Violence ensued and broadcasting was interrupted. In the Television building, the film archive was destroyed, along with IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
machines, montage rooms and mobile phones. Telephone wires were cut, documents were stolen or destroyed, windows were broken and people were violently attacked.
14 June
In the early morning, coal miners from the Jiu ValleyJiu Valley
The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...
reached Bucharest, on trains commissioned, according to the miners' leader Miron Cozma
Miron Cozma
Miron Cozma is a former Romanian labor union organizer and leader of Romania's Jiu Valley coal miners' union...
and subsequent Parliamentary inquiries, by Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
, transport minister at the time. They headed for Victoria Square, where they were welcomed and bread was distributed to them from army vehicles.
A number of officials appeared at the Council of Ministers at Victoria Square, and finally Iliescu showed up accompanied by representatives of the miners. In his speech he accused the demonstrators of the University Square of being alcoholics, drug addicts, fascists (making reference to the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
"Legionnaires" of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era), and bandits. In the square were also groups carrying banners showing that they are from particular factories.
During this period, the Opposition newspapers and magazines România Liberă
România Libera
România Liberă is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. Based in Bucharest, the Romanian-language daily has a paid daily circulation of 40,000....
, Dreptatea
Dreptatea
Dreptatea was a Romanian newspaper that appeared between 17 October 1927 and 17 July 1947, as a newspaper of the National Peasants' Party. It was re-founded on February 5, 1990 as a publication of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party ....
, Express, 22, Baricada were attacked and damaged, and some of the newspaper workers were assaulted. The building where România Liberă was printed was damaged. România Liberă and several publications of opposition political groups were not published in the interval of 15–18 June, as the typography workers refused to print the anti-government articles. The student demonstrators and protesters were engaged in violent confrontation with workers and other pro-government groups. The University and Architecture Institute was devastated and many students badly beaten.
From 14–15 June arrests of the people involved in the demonstration of University Square continued.
Victims
The official figures say that during this third Mineriad, seven people were killed and hundreds were wounded. However, some NGOs claim that up to 188 people died. The Opposition newspaper România LiberăRomânia Libera
România Liberă is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. Based in Bucharest, the Romanian-language daily has a paid daily circulation of 40,000....
alleged that over 128 unidentified bodies were buried in a common grave in Străuleşti II cemetery, near Bucharest. The records of the Neurosurgery department of the Municipal Hospital from Bucharest showed that hundreds of severely wounded people were treated in those days, of which 60 died in the next months.
Aftermath
According to the report of Gheorge Robu and Interior Minister Doru Viorel UrsuDoru Viorel Ursu
Doru Viorel Ursu is a Romanian politician and lawyer. A member of the National Salvation Front , he was Minister of the Interior in the Petre Roman cabinets, carrying his mandate between the Mineriads of 1990 and 1991.-Biography:...
, from the events of 13–15 June 185 people were arrested; 34 put on trial; 2 freed unconditionally; 17 freed under parole after medical examinations; 81 freed under parole; 51 remained under arrest.
The demonstrations in University Square persisted until about 24–25 August 1990.
Press reaction
The pro-FSN press (such as AdevărulAdevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
, Dimineaţa, Azi) praised the miners and other workers for being the "defenders of liberty and democracy" and criticized the negative coverage of the international press who, they claim, saw only one part of the issue.
The official government position on the foreign press opinion was expressed on 15 June 1990 by Prime Minister Petre Roman
Petre Roman
Petre Roman is a Romanian politician and a former Prime Minister of Romania. He served from 1989 to 1991, when his government was overthrown by the intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma. Roman is a member of the Club of Madrid, grouping 66 democratic former heads of state and government...
. He declared that the international press had a "strange" point of view and that the intervention against the opposition was not a "fascist program", but it was the other way around, the protesters being the fascists.
Differing perspective of the miners
See also The 1990s: the rise and decline of miners' unionsThe Jiu Valley miners were vilified in the national and international press for their role in the confrontation and the subsequent violence and destruction. Subsequent interviews with miners participating in the confrontation provide a very different perspective of the events that transpired. Many claim that individuals reportedly representing the government came to the mines and union groups and told the miners that the new democracy was under attack by anarchists and provocateurs who wanted to bring down the elected government. It was their duty, the miners were told, to protect Romania and the new democracy. Few, if any, of the miners had any connection with or knowledge of the protesters and their demands, so they followed the direction of individuals they believed represented the government. In the view of many individuals in Jiu Valley, most of the violence was perpetuated by non-miners or agents provocateurs dressed like miners. The perspective that the Bucharest-controlled media refused to provide their version of events was and continues to be widely held throughout the Jiu Valley.
Inquiry into potential involvement of the Romanian Intelligence Service
Later inquiries would show that these claims by the miners were not unfounded. Rumors and public suspicion (and later Parliamentary inquiries) of the potential role of the Serviciul Român de InformaţiiServiciul Român de Informatii
The Romanian Intelligence Service is the Romanian domestic intelligence service. It is considered the descendant of the former Departamentul Securităţii Statului , of the Socialist Republic of Romania. The official decree The Romanian Intelligence Service (', SRI) is the Romanian domestic...
(Romanian Intelligence Service), the successor to the former Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
), in the instigation and manipulation of the June 1990 Mineriad contributed to the widespread public mistrust of the post-Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
Romanian intelligence service.
Government inquiries would show that the miners had indeed been "joined by vigilantes who were later credibly identified as former officers of the Securitate", and that for two days, the miners had been aided and abetted by former Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
members in their violent confrontation with the protesters and other targets.
In February 1994 a Bucharest court "found two security officers, Colonel Ion. Nicolae and warrant officer Corneliu Dumitrescu, guilty of ransacking the house of Ion Raţiu, a leading figure in the National Peasant Christian Democratic Party, during the miners’ incursion, and stealing $100,000."
In addition to accusations of having agents infiltrate and incite the opposition rally in 18 February 1990 and later directly participate in the June 1990 anti-opposition violence involving the Jiu Valley miners, there was also evidence that during this period that the Service was involved in distributing fake Legionary leaflets that claimed a fascist take-over in Romania was about to occur, and evidence that intelligence officials selectively released documents from Securitate archives in order to compromise opposition leaders.
According to a research report put out by the Conflict Studies Research Centre at Britain's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst:
Despite repeated denials by its leaders, there are clear indications of the SRI's involvement. Recently, Voican Voiculescu even accused MagureanuVirgil MăgureanuVirgil Măgureanu, is a Romanian sociologist that was the head of the main intelligence service of Romania, Serviciul Român de Informaţii, or SRI between 1990-1997...
of having staged the violence in order to take over as prime minister. Other sources claim that the miners' arrival in Bucharest was orchestrated by Major Dumitru Iliescu (now a colonel), the chief of President Iliescu's Special Guard and Protocol Unit (renamed the Protection and Protocol Service in July 1991).