Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 14, 1990 TAG: 9006140174
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA LENGTH: Medium
The Soviet news agency Tass, in a dispatch from Bucharest, said four people had been killed, according to people "storming" the Interior Ministry. It said "many cars" near the ministry and police headquarters had been overturned and set blaze and that two buildings nearby were also on fire.
State television quoted the Health Ministry as reporting two dead near University Square in downtown Bucharest and 93 people hospitalized, four in a very "grave state."
The violence was the worst since the December revolution that ousted Communist dictator Nicolai Ceausescu, who was executed with his wife on Christmas Day.
President-elect Ion Iliescu accused extremist elements of organizing an "Iron Guard rebellion" and trying to overthrow the government - a reference to the pre-World War II Iron Guard party that supported the Nazis.
The violence in the Romanian capital was touched off an early morning police raid that ended a 53-day anti-communist protest in University Square. Police clubbed and dragged away protesters.
In Washington late Wednesday, the State Department said it deplored the use "of excessive force by the authorities in clearing the square.
"We are concerned that this action by the Romanian authorities may set off a cycle of violence. President Iliescu and his government must now exercise restraint," the statement said.
One witness said she helped carry 12 bodies from outside the old headquarters of Securitate, the hated secret police of Ceausescu, and another reported seeing at least two bodies but these reports could not be confirmed officially.
Demonstrators halted broadcasts at state TV, scene of fierce fighting and dramatic on-air appeals for an end to Communist rule last December, for about 45 minutes.
The state news agency Rompres reported "seriously wounded" near the former Securitate building - now occupied by the Interior Ministry - and police headquarters and the TV station.
by CNB