Romania’s National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the June 13–15, 1990 Mineriad was marked on Monday with a memorial service in Bucharest, at the initiative of the Association of the Victims of the 1990–1991 Mineriads.
Led by Fr. Florin Ionică, counsellor at the Cemeteries, Monuments and Funeral Services Department of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, a group of clergy celebrated a memorial service at the cross in University Square dedicated to the victims.
“In 1998, our association was able to erect this cross, which was blessed by the Church,” Viorel Ene, president of the Association of the Victims of the 1990–1991 Mineriads, told Radio Trinitas.
“At the beginning, our association had around 2,000 members; now only a few hundred remain, most of them elderly and in poor health.”
Fr. Gheorghe Dilirici, coordinator of the priests serving in Bucharest’s public cemeteries, told Radio Trinitas that the site remains deeply emotional.
“Many young people sacrificed themselves here for the ideals of democracy and, we may also say, for the ideals of the Romanian Orthodox Church, because we all know that until 1989 the Orthodox Church was not viewed favourably by the authorities of that time,” the priest said, also referring to the victims of the December 1989 Revolution.
Romania’s National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the June 13–15, 1990 Mineriad was observed for the first time this year, shortly after the President of Romania promulgated it into law.
Photo: Basilica.ro / Raluca Ene
