The Barricade Revisited

Bucharest barricade, rebuilt 20 years after the Revolution

Precisely 20 years ago, on 22 December 1989, the communist regime was overthrown. This was the day when Ceausescu ran away from Bucharest aboard a helicopter, as hundreds of thousands of Bucharesters took to the streets.

published in issue 4586 page 3 at 2009-12-23, Nine O'Clock

Events marking the 20th anniversary of the 1989 anti-communist uprising continued yesterday in Bucharest and across the country. At the Romanian Patriarchy in the capital, a special religious service was held in memory of revolution victims, while in Sibiu, Ardeal Metropolitan Church leader Laurentiu Streza inaugurated a monument in memory of the city’s revolution dead.

But one of the most prominent events was the recreation of the Intercontinental Hotel barricade, 20 years later, in Bucharest’s downtown on Monday evening. Hundreds of people, former revolutionists, relatives of the victims who fell on 21 December 1989, along with young people, participated in the event. The “Inter barricade” was part of a commemorative act initiated by film director Paul Cozighian, one of those who stormed the communist party’s Central Committee (CC) headquarter, during the night of 21 December 1989. The new barricade was erected Monday evening, at the same spot where the people of Bucharest, 20 years ago, built it in protest to the communist dictatorship.

Carrying flags that had the coat of arms removed, people near the barricade shouted to bystanders: “Come with us, they also died for you!” According to Mediafax, on a stage arranged in a truck, a group of children sang carols and the names of victims were called out by family members. Actress Maia Morgenstern, who attended the event, lectured a poem by Mircea Dinescu.

Those who dared to protest in the street, in December 1989 - including the people who manned the barricade, were commemorated on Monday evening at the headquarter of the ‘21 Decembrie 1989’ Association, Agerpres reports.

Also to commemorate the heroes of 21 December 1989, the ‘Noii Golani’ (New Tramps) organization staged a march on Monday evening, in the capital. In Parliament, the solemn session called for Monday evening, to mark 20 years since the December 1989 Revolution, was held in the absence of many legislators, but also of Government representatives. Only 120 out of the total 471 members of the Parliament attended the meeting, along with some 10 representatives of revolutionists, but no member of the Government.

by Andreea Marinas, Nine O'Clock

and also this interview found in Nine O'Clock with Dr Djuvara whom I saw on str. Eminescu in July.