Romania had been lurching toward civil insurrection since last month’s election. When it finally came, the riots forced the postponement of on Iliescu’s Inauguration as president, which had been scheduled for Friday. Last month Iliescu and leaders of his ruling National Salvation Front won more than 80 percent of the vote, riding a tide of support to become among the few ex-communists to win elections in Eastern Europe. But opponents say the result of the first election in 40 years was rigged. Now Iliescu’s doubters are venting their frustration in the street. One group used trucks to smash into police headquarters and the Interior Ministry. The miners, still in their soiled work clothes and helmets, retaliated by lashing out at random with rubber truncheons, clubs and fists. The toll: five dead, hundreds injured. Iliescu described the fighting as an attempted coup, and he had a point. Antigovernment demonstrators had occupied Bucharest’s University Square since April 23, and thousands of protesters boiled into the streets after authorities broke up their encampment. The riots did not immediately threaten Iliescu; last week’s protests were led by politically marginal student radicals. But the riots could erode the new government’s legitimacy.
Now Iliescu must find a way either to reassure protesters or–like his predecessor–to suppress them by force. Force seems the likely choice. During last week’s unrest, police hunted down protest leaders, broke into people’s homes and ransacked university buildings. Mobs of rampaging miners destroyed the headquarters of the two main opposition parties and threatened to close down the country’s most influential independent newspaper, Free Romania. Western governments responded with threats of economic sanctions. “The way they are responding’ the rhetoric they are using,” said British Foreign Office Minister William Waldegrave, “are signs that fill us with despondency.” Friday Iliescu sent the miners home, thanking them “with all my heart” for ending the demonstrations. The regime also offered to talk with the opposition. But protesters were unconvinced. The danger ahead, they fear, is not communism but totalitarianism with a new face.
