Journalists Clubbed, Newspaper Occupied as Miners Aid Iliescu

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) _ Tens of thousands of miners called to the capital by President-elect Ion Iliescu to help put down anti-government protests on Thursday clubbed passers- by and journalists and occupied the offices of the main opposition newspaper.

Few police and soldiers were visible late Thursday in Bucharest. The miners, armed with cudgels, their faces and work clothes still smudged with coal dust, were apparently left to maintain order in this city of 2.2 million residents as they saw fit.

In reaction to the disorder in this capital and violence that left at least five people dead and 350 injured, the state news agency Rompress said the newly elected Parliament, which had been scheduled to meet on Thursday, had delayed its session until Monday.

Miners streamed into Bucharest from as far away as 240 miles after two days of unrest in which security forces clashed with demonstrators who claim the governing National Salvation Front of Iliescu is dominated by Communists associated with the ousted regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed Dec. 25, three days after an uprising began when 94 protesters were killed by government forces in the western city of Timisoara. The government says a total of 1,038 civilians and soldiers died in the pro-democratic revolution.

The latest casualties occurred when police cleared a 2-month-old demonstration from a central square Wednesday, then fired on protesters who attacked government buildings and overturned cars, setting them ablaze.

It was the worst violence in Romania since the uprising paved the way for free elections last month that were won by Iliescu, the interim President, and his National Salvation Front.

In Washington, President Bush’s office condemned ″in the strongest possible terms″ what it called ″government-inspired vigilante violence.″ White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said the violence ″departs from the commonly accepted norms of democracy and the rule of law.″

Iliescu late Wednesday called in a televised speech for all ″democraticforce s″ to come to the aid of his embattled government.

Iliescu shortened the miners’ workweek and raised their pay after the revolt, and in return the miners have been staunch supporters of his National Salvation Front.

Early Thursday, soldiers fired at demonstrators who threw firebombs at police headquarters and sporadic gunfire echoed across Bucharest.

Then the miners arrived, carrying clubs, rubber hoses and other crude weapons.

Dozens of people were assaulted, others butted repeatedly by the helmeted miners, estimated to number in the tens of thousands.

As a Western radio reporter was pulled away from a group of grim-faced miners in central University Square, a heavy-set woman egged the miners on, urging them to kill the reporter’s colleagues.

In another development, the government Thursday announced the resignation of Gen. Mihai Chitac as interior minister.

No official reason was given, but Chitac had already been under fire for allegedly helping to put down anti-Communist protests in December. Because his ministry is responsible for the police, his replacement also was thought to be linked to the police attack on the demonstrators Wednesday.

Less than a mile from the square, about 10 miners besieged the residence of Iliescu critic Dimitru Mazilu for several hours before dispersing, said Mazilu and a neighbor. The former vice president of the post-revolutionary government stepped down following charges that he collabrated with the Securitate, the secret police force that killed hundreds during the revolution.

The miners were apparently directed by several men who Mazilu said were ″Securitate or former Securitate″ agents. Mazilu told reporters who arrived at his apartment that the agents urged the miners to kill him.

Mazilu said the miners left after he called government officials.

In London, the son of Romanian National Peasant Party leader Ion Ratiu told The Associated Press his father had been beaten and taken from his house in Bucharest by miners.

Nicolae Ratiu, who lives in London, said his cousin told him by telephone from Bucharest that he saw the miners pummel Ion Ratiu and three other people and drag them from the house. Men who claimed to be police were operating with the miners, he said.

In Lyon, France, authorities said Thursday that 23 Romanian tourists fearing a new dictatorship in their country have asked France for political asylum.

The miners in Bucharest also occupied opposition party headquarters.

Other government suporters ransacked the headquarters of the opposition Liberal Party, as well as Bucharest University’s Faculty of Foreign Languages.

Miners milled around University Square at nightfall Thursday, demanding identity papers from foreign journalists and those they suspected of being anti-government symphathizers.

There was no indication when the miners would return to western Romania. Some were seen leaving early Friday in trucks, but their destination was unknown.

Rompress quoted an unidentified miner as saying, ″The hoolingans stayed for a couple of weeks. But we will stay until we are sure that we reinstate order in the Romanian capital.″

Rompres quoted a miners’ communique demanding the closure of Romania Libera, the main newspaper critical of Iliescu and his government.

Romania Libera said later its editorial offices were occupied by people who claimed they were print workers, a staff member was roughed up, and executive offices were ransacked, according to Rompres.

A group of miners took control of the corridor outside the editorial board’s offices, disrupting work, and the board appealed to the government in the name of freedom of the press for help, Rompres said.

During the violence Thursday, people in military trucks handed the government supporters milk and bread.

Unidentified people in a van carrying loudspeakers warned passers-by: ″Don’t incite the miners ... you would thus give birth to fierce violence.″

The speakers also instructed the miners to grab journalists and take them into the van. ″We will take care of them,″ the speakers said.

Ovidiu Bogdan, 28, a photographer for the Gamma photo agency, said he was attacked by men armed with iron-ended clubs in central Bucharest.

An AP reporter was clubbed before being rescued by an acquaintance in the army.

Iliescu is the first ex-Communist to win a popular presidential election in Eastern Europe. He and the National Salvation Front won May 20 elections by a landslide.