Romanian revolution 1989

The revolution in Timişoara

The fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime started in Timişoara, a city of Western Romania. On the 15th of December of 1989 Romanian authorities wanted to expel the reformed pastor Lazlo Tőkés, disliked by the regime because of his sermons, in which he did not omit condemnations of the regime. Having been told of the authorities' intentions, a group of faithful gathered in front of the house where he lived, in an area very near to the centre of the city. Authorities were not able to disperse the protesters and by the following day, the 16th, hundreds of people had gathered in front of the pastor's house, people belonging not only to the Hungarian community, of which Tőkés was part. In the afternoon of the same day, the slogans pro freedom of religious expression soon turned into slogans against the regime and protests spread to different areas of the city. The army, the police and the secret police (Securitate) intervened to disperse the protesters. Hundreds of people were beaten and arrested. In the afternoon of the 17th of December, though, the citizens of Timişoara took the streets again. The police opened fire and tens of people died. On the 18th protesters gathered again, there were new riots and other victims. On the 19th factory workers from the city went on strike and on the 20th they marched towards the centre of the city, where the Romanian Prime Minister Constantin Dăscălescu met with a delegation of the insurgents. They presented him with a list of requests that were not accepted. But the army, that day, retired in the barracks and the insurgents declared Timişoara a free city.