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ROM AN1A: Unrest Spreading
Street battles in Timisoara and reported unrest in other towns pose the
most serious threat yet to Ceausescu 's rule.
Estimates of casualties range from one to
2,000, most of them ranging between 250 and 400.
Unccnfirmed reports of' minor outbreaks in other cities, including
Arad Oradea, Sibiu, Brasov, and Curticil
students in Bucharest have
declared solidarity with the protesters. and police guards have been
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ROMANIA: Situal ion Report
Protests Spreading The Ceausescu regime is fast approaching its breaking point, and the US
Embassy has ordered evacuation of nonessential personnel.
Reliability of
Security Forces
A stated proregime rally in Bucharest yesterday turned into a violent
anti-Ceausescu demonstration of about 2,0 ,000 people; it left at least
13 confirmed dead. 15,000 protesters at the
International Hotel were assaulted by security forces around
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BULGARIA: Crowds Demand Free Elections
Nlore than 511.(10U people demonstrated in Sofia on Saturday. calling
for democrac�. free elections, and punishment of former leader
ZbiykoNH rallies also were held in at least
four other cities. Part of the crowd, however, booed a speaker who
criticiLed the regime's mistreatment of the Turkish minority. A
smaller, officially sponsored demonstration on Friday also went
be ond the official program in calling for a multiparty system and
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Civic Forum a Growing Political Power
The Civic Forum is moving to fill the power vacuum left by the
disintegration of Communist rule.
The most graphic demonstration of the Forum's growing confidence
is its announcement that the general strike called for Monday will
proceed regardless of the outcome of the government shuffle and that
its duration will depend on whether the opposition accepts the new
government
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ROMANIA: Antiregime Protests
The protests in Timisoara and Arad over the weekend, the largest since
the Brasov riots in 1987, are the latest signals that the corrupt and
repressive Ceausescu regime cannot Iniefinitely resist the changes
engulfing Eastern Europe.
Security has.been tightened throughout the country since riot
police opened fire on thousands of antigovernment demonstrators
in the two cities in ethnically diverse Transylvania. Timisoara was
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EAST C;ERNIANY: Truuoled 40th Anniversary
East
East Germany's orthodox leadership almost certainly worries
that President Gorbacher's arrival today will prompt additional
demonstrations and deepen the crisis facing the regime.
The tenuous nature of the regime's hold on the population showed
again this week when thousands of East Germans tried to board the
trains evacuating the second group of emigrants from Prague to West
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BULGARIA; Prospects for Roundtable Talks
Roundtable talks between the Communist Party, the Agrarian Parry,
and opposition groups open today in the wake of a large prodemocracy
demonstration and the repal o � utional clauses guaranteeing the
leading role of the party.
The Union of Democratic Forces, the umbrella opposition group.
will demand that the government postpone general elections until
November. It also will demand
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Communist Party Falling Apart
The splintering of the Communist Party is eroding both the ability of
hardliners to interfere in democratization and the party's potential role
in determining Czechoslorakia's future.
The party's Presidium. lcd by General Secretary Urbanck. appears
incapable of curbing rank-and-file demands for radical changes in
the party. The powerful Prague city party organization, for example.
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Gorbachev's Vhit
to Lithuania
General Secretary Gorbachev failed to reverse the Lithuanian
Communist Party's split from the Soviet party or to dampen secessionist
sentiment in the republic during his visit last week. Leaders of the newly
independent Lithuanian party apparently emerged from their meetings
with Gorbachev firmly committed to preserving their new status.
Moreover, nationalist leaders quickly rejected as a ploy to buy time
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Conk.sting How To Pick a President
The election of a president will be the next benchmark in
Czechoslovakia's movement toward democracy.
The Civic Forum and the Communist ['any have not yet agreed on
how m select the president but have decided to give themselves until
24 January to hold the election. They reportedly also agreed that to be
eligitle a candidate must be a Czech who is not affiliated with any
FOIA
