NID: ROMANIA: NEW REGIME UNDER FIRE

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826847
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: January 13, 1990

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826847
NR Record
ROMANIA: New Regime Under Fire
Spontaneous anti-Communist protests ycsterday forced the National
Salvation Front (FSN) to make significant concessions; it apparently
has failed to win legitimacy and will probably encounter increasing
opposition. Provisional President Iliescu yielded to the demands of
the protesters and announced the immediate outlawing of the
Communist Pans' and a referendum on 28 January on the death
penalty. He also pledged to hold a national debate on the election law
and promised to accept UN supervision of the planned national
election. Hungarian media reports indicate the FSN CunciLin
Timisoara has resigned in the face of local protests.
Comment: The protests against the FSN are the largest to date.
Romanians are increasingly impatient with the slow pace of public
trials against Ceausescu loyalists and angry about the prominence
of Communist holdovers in the Front and the government.
Demonstrations may intensify when university classes resume next
week, and protesters may target Communist FSN leaders, including
Ilieseu. It will be difficult for the Front to establish legitimacy as long
as it is dominated by Communists, meaning Romania may be in for
a lengthy period of instability and unrest.
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TCS 2711/90
13 Januar)* 1990
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826847