June 1990 Mineriad - 13 June

13 June

4:00 AM: The police forces attacked the hunger strikers. 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 barricades 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 cocktails. 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 left 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 cocktails, 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.