10,000 miners threaten mayhem in Romania
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.TEN THOUSAND Romanian coal miners were heading for the capital Bucharest yesterday after a pitched battle with police which plunged the government into crisis over the threat to country's nascent democracy.
The miners, who have been on strike for two weeks, are demanding a pay rise of 35 per cent and the reopening of two mines. A court last week declared the strike illegal, but the miners have refused to return to work.
President Emil Constantinescu held an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister, Radu Vasile, yesterday after the miners launched a barrage of rocks and stones at police lines in the town of Bumbesti Jiu, 150 miles north-west of the capital, and swept through barricades. "The miners departure to Bucharest would spell catastrophe for them, the authorities and for the country as a whole, both internally and externally," said Pantelimon Manta, the prefect of Gorj county, which covers Bumbesti Jiu.
The meeting between the President and the Prime Minister was also attended by the army's Chief of Staff and the head of the country's intelligence service. Romanian state radio reported that the Defence Minister, Victor Babiuc, said he was ready to deploy the army against the strikers, if police failed to halt their advance on the capital.
But the protest is more than another economic grievance in the crisis- ridden Romanian economy. Toughened by years of hardship, the miners could once again plunge the capital into chaos, as they did in 1990 and 1991. Then thousands of miners, opposed to market reforms, built barricades and battled with police. In 1991, miners set fire to government headquarters and forced Petre Roman, Romania's first post-Communist prime minister from office.
There is no love lost between the miners, who live and work in harsh conditions, and the inhabitants of the capital, seen by the strikers as the epicentre of the forces they believe have betrayed them since the bloody 1989 revolution that toppled the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed with his wife Elena.
"We will not give an inch. Bucharest is mocking us," said the miners' leader, Miron Cozma, who was imprisoned last year for his role in the 1990 and 1991 riots. "I have seen people desperate but resolved. As long as I have a mandate to go to Bucharest I will fulfil it."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments