VIDEO How Ion Iliescu sent the miners to “reoccupy” the University Square and thanked them for the “High Civic Discipline” after the slaughter of June 13-15

Less than a month after the first elections after the Revolution, in which Ion Iliescu had been chosen by 85%, between June 13-15, Romania was the scene, even in the center of Bucharest, of bloody confrontations that ended the anti-communist rally from the University Square. Ion Iliescu had called the protesters.

Short Chronology: Iliescu sets up, in Scroviștea, the plan for the coming of the miners

On June 12, in Scroviștea, in the presence of former President Ion Iliescu, a meeting takes place in which a plan to suppress the demonstration from the University Square, including the arrival of the miners, says General Dan Voinea, the prosecutor who instrumented the mining file.

“President Iliescu was personally involved in the repression act of June 14-15, he gave an order in this regard. Before that there was a secret meeting somewhere in Scroviștea, attended by the Minister of Interior Chiţac, the then police chief, General Diamandescu, Petre Roman, Ion Iliescu and they have established how to do it. file.

On the morning of June 13, the police intervene brutally and evacuate the protesters left in the University Square. Around noon the workers from IMGB are also involved in the police operation. The market balcony reopens.

On the morning of June 14, almost 10,000 miners from the Jiu Valley arrive in Bucharest, armed with sticks, chains and axes. The miners arrive in Victoriei Square from where Ion Iliescu sends them to the University Square, with the order to “reoccupy it”.

The miners beat all those who go out of their way, devastates the University and the Faculty of Architecture, as well as the headquarters of the Parties and the newsrooms. The police do not intervene, on the contrary they participate with miners in violence.

Iliescu thanked the miners “for what they have demonstrated” and the high civic discipline.

Iliescu, to the miners: “Your example was full of aging for all the good, who want the progress of the Romanian society”

Ion Iliescu's speech in front of the miners, in June 1990:

• “Thank you for everything you have done these days, in general for all your tall civic consciousness. So, I thank you once again for what you have demonstrated these days: that you are a strong force, with a high civic discipline, working, people of hope and for good, but especially for this time.
• With a special feeling of the civic, patriotic consciousness you felt the difficult moment and with an exemplary dedication you have shown ready to be solidarity with the new power.
• Your example was full of aging for all the good, who want the progress of the Romanian society. I want to thank you for this act of high solidarity you have demonstrated these days

The then president of Romania also stated in front of the miners gathered in Romexpo:

• “With your help were discovered in the basement of the PNT building: deposit of incendiary, drugs, syringes with which they injected drugs to some of those who stood in the University and weapons market.
• At the building of the Association “December 16-21”, storage deposits and other such white weapons, chains and so on were found. In the basement of the University building, weapons were discovered: 22 Jeco rifles, but which are dangerous weapons in such conditions, and bags with euphorizing powders that they probably used during this period.
• How can it be motivated that in the headquarters of a political party, in the headquarters of some stated apolitical associations, the presence of such deposits of incendiary bottles, ammunition, drugs and weapons of all kinds, weapons of aggression; How can this be motivated? We believe that some moral liability is also having some newspapers, some intellectuals who have incited during this period.
• I want once again to express my whole gratitude from the population of the capital for your presence, useful and efficient.
• I want to thank for the organized spirit in which you presented yourself, in which you acted, to thank your leaders, the engineer Cozma and the other union leaders who were in front of you, along with us, who helped us these days. So I thank you all for everything you have done these days, “Iliescu said in his speech, adding that” we know that we have a hope of hope, when it will be necessary! I hope we do not need to call you. “

In the years that followed, Ion Iliescu said that he was not responsible for what the miners did and that he did not plan the violent operation of June 13-15. According to official data, six people died, over 1,000 were injured and hundreds of people were arrested in those days. However, the associations of the victims of the miners claim that the number of deceased persons would rise to over 100 people.

Mining file has reached court again 35 years after the event

The first file of Mining – in which former President Ion Iliescu, former prime minister Petre Roman and former director of SRI Virgil Măgureanu were sued in June 2017 for offenses against humanity – was canceled and resumed from scratch. In 2020 the High Court decided to return the investigation to the Prosecutor's Office to complete the criminal prosecution.

In April 2025 the mining file arrived in court again. Former President Ion Iliescu, former prime minister Petre Roman, Gelu Voican Voiculescu, Virgil Măgureanu, Adrian Sârbu and Miron Cozma were sent to court for humanity, following the events of June 13-15, 1990.

The more than 1,400 pages of the General Prosecutor's Office in the Mining file of June 1990 contain strong testimonies. Beaten with the ranges, the hoses that had nuts or taps at the ends, the victims of the miners recalled the horror moments lived during those days, the prosecutors say.

• Without the contribution of the authorities from the highest level, the facts of the miners directed against some people in the Capital would have remained at the stage of specific violent actions, prosecutors accuse.
• Among the more than 10,000 miners brought to Bucharest were infiltrated police, security and army people, who actively participated in violence, the data in the file shows.
• Four people were killed, two women were raped, over 1,300 injured people, and another 1,200 lacking freedom during the mining.