Mineriad
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See also The 1990s: the rise and decline of miners' unions
A Mineriad (Mineriadă in Romanian) is the parody term used to name any of the successive violent interventions of miners in Bucharest. These interventions were aimed at wrestling policy changes or simply material advantages from the current political power. The term is mostly used to refer to the most violent mineriad, which happened on the 14 and 15 June 1990. The term follows the names of classic events like the Olympics (Olimpiada in Romanian) or the Crusades (Cruciada in Romanian) representing a gathering of people with a usually honourable goal.
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[edit] January 1990 mineriad
[edit] 28 January
After the National Salvation Front's decision to transform itself into a party, an anti-Communist demonstration took place in Bucharest's Victoria Square (Piaţa Victoriei), organised by the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNŢCD), National Liberal Party (PNL), and other smaller parties. The manifestation was mainly aimed at Ion Iliescu, protesters waving banners reading "He who spent five years with the Russians, cannot think like Bush", "We don't want neocommunism" or "Yesterday Ceauşescu, today Iliescu" "Using the TV (media), you have lied to the people".
The National Salvation Front (FSN) also organized a demonstration, bringing in workers from factories in Bucharest, many of whom reportedly were armed with clubs and crowbars. Even if the anti-Communist demonstration started out, and was intended to be, non-violent, the protesters charged on the Parliament building and demanded their resignation. After that, the FSN started talks with opposition parties. In the mean time, Ion Iliescu called upon the population of Romania to come to Bucharest to protect democracy.
[edit] 29 January
On the morning of the 29th of January, over 5,000 miners from Jiu Valley came to Bucharest, heeding the leaders' call, armed as the FSN supporters. They headed out for the PNŢCD and PNL headquarters and attacked and ransacked them. In a rather dramatic moment, Petre Roman, Prime Minister at the time, came in a military vehicle and pulled Corneliu Coposu from his party's besieged headquarters. Iliescu and Roman then addressed the crowd, calming things and sending the miners home.
[edit] February 1990 mineriad
Less than a month after the January mineriad, another anti-Communist manifestation took place in Bucharest (February 28). Despite the demonstrators' pleas to non-violence, several persons started throwing stones into the Government building. Riot police and army forces intervened to restore order, and on the same night, 4,000 miners rushed into Bucharest.
Opposition leaders and independent media speculated that the demonstration was manipulated by Securitate and FSN. Miners maintain their relative innocence of the violence, claiming that the agitation and most of the brutality was the work of Iliescu’s government agents who had infiltrated and disguised themselves as miners.[1]
[edit] June 1990 mineriad
The Romanian miners of Jiu Valley were called by the newly-elected power to Bucharest to end the riots that broke up on 13 June 1990. As President Ion Iliescu put it, the miners were called to save the "besieged democratic regime" and restore order and democracy in Bucharest. The government trucked in thousands of miners from the Jiu Valley to Bucharest to confront the demonstrators. The rest of Romania and the world watched the government television broadcasts of miners brutally grappling with students and other protesters.
Over the course of a month-long demonstration in University Square, many protesters had gathered with the goal of attaining official recognition for the 8th demand of the popular Proclamation of Timişoara, which stated that communists and former communists (including President Iliescu himself) should be prevented from holding official functions. Many people, most of them intellectuals, were dissatisfied with Iliescu's first government, made up mostly of former communists, because it implemented reforms very slowly or not at all. There had been a protest and hunger strike since 20 May, the general elections day, when the protesters were angry that Iliescu's FSN won the elections mostly because the opposition had no chance to mount an effective campaign, and that former communists were in power — the only other country of the ex-Soviet bloc in which this happened was Bulgaria, where the Bulgarian Socialist Party won a 52.7% majority.
The official figures say that during the third Mineriad, seven people were killed and more than a thousand were wounded. However, some NGOs say that at least 100 people died.[citation needed] The newspaper România Liberă said that on 29 June 1990 over 40 bodies were buried in a common grave in Străuleşti, near Bucharest. Conspiracy theories and rumors circulated as to the origins and development of the mineriad, with some believing that both the Romanian Presidency and Secret Service had a hand in it.[citation needed]
[edit] September 1991 mineriad
The fourth mineriad began on 24 September, with the miners claiming that government had not lived up to its economic promises. The miners occupied the town hall of Petroşani and from its balcony, Miron Cozma, who at the time was President of the League of Miners Unions of the Jiu Valley, said "We're going to Bucharest". They hijacked a train and several thousands miners left toward the Victoria Palace, the headquarters of the government. When they arrived, they found that Petre Roman refused to negotiate with them. Rioting ensued and lasted over four days. The Roman government resigned a day later. Before leaving, the miners went to the Chamber of Deputies asking for Iliescu's resignation, but after Iliescu met with Cozma the miners left Bucharest. Three people died and 455 were wounded during this mineriad.
[edit] January-February 1999 mineriad
The Jiu Valley miners left again for Bucharest, unhappy with the governmental reduction of the subsidies, which would result in the closing of the mines. The barricade installed by the gendarmes at Costeşti was crossed by the miners and near Râmnicu Vâlcea a Gendarmerie unit was ambushed by the miners. Reaching Râmnicu Vâlcea, they sequestered the prefect of Vâlcea County. Radu Vasile, Prime Minister at the time, negotiated an agreement with Miron Cozma, the miners' leader, at the Cozia Monastery, nearby.
On 14 February 1999, Cozma was found guilty for the 1991 mineriad and sentenced for 18 years in prison. The miners led by Cozma left for Bucharest and were stopped by the police at Stoeneşti, Olt. In the battle, 100 policemen and 70 miners were wounded and one miner died. Cozma was arrested and sent to Rahova prison.
[edit] Legal issues
Ion Iliescu pardoned Cozma's sentence on December 15, 2004, a few days before his term ended, but revoked the decision two days later, having faced the outrage of Romanian and international media and politicians.
Cozma successfully challenged the legality of the withdrawal of the pardoning, and on the 14th of June 2005 he was freed by the Judge Court of Craiova county. However, on September 28, 2005, Cozma was sentenced by the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice to serve 10 years in prison for the January 1999 Mineriad, which included time aleady served. His request to be released on parole was denied on June 2, 2006. After serving the full term, Cozma was finally released on the 2nd of December, 2007, but was restricted from returning to either Petroşani or Bucharest.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Academia Caţavencu, 13-15 Iunie: Trei zile cu ghinION, no. 16/2005, 27 April 2005.
[edit] External links
