UPHEAVAL IN ROMANIA : East Bloc, West Applaud Overthrow

Western leaders joined with Eastern leaders in applauding the downfall of Nicolae Ceausescu, the last hard-line ruler in the Soviet Bloc, and the 12-nation European Community pledged a $1.2 million grant in immediate aid to Romania.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev read out a news update from the podium of Parliament. A Soviet Parliament member and space scientist, Roald Z. Sagdeyev, declared: “It’s a holiday.”

Members of the Parliament broke into applause when Gorbachev announced that Romanian Radio had reported Ceausescu’s arrest. Then, on Gorbachev’s suggestion, they adopted a resolution offering “decisive support for the just cause of the people of Romania.”

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, on the steps of her No. 10 Downing St. residence, saluted Romanians for having “taken liberty for themselves.”

“We should spare a thought for the very courageous people who were not prepared to knuckle under in a bloodstained tyranny . . . and who paid for it with their lives,” she said.

Leaders elsewhere saluted the courage of Romanians who were mowed down by tanks and bullets in the uprisings, the only killings in the wave of democracy spreading through Eastern Europe. Many pleaded for an end to the violence.

“To win this victory, the people of Romania have paid a heavy price: the yoke of tyranny throughout long years, the massacre of innocent people in the course of recent weeks,” the European Community said from its headquarters in Brussels.

Romania’s exiled King Michael, deposed by the Communists in 1947, told his countrymen in a broadcast from Switzerland, “I am and will always remain with you.”

In dozens of countries, national radio and television interrupted programs with news from Romania and gave constant updates, emanating in stunning detail from East Bloc news agencies, including the Soviet Union’s Tass agency.

Before Gorbachev’s policy of openness, reports of any troubles in an allied country would have taken days or weeks to reach the official media--if ever.

Ceausescu had closed Romania’s borders to black out news of violent suppression of protests ignited a week ago in the western city of Timisoara, but some reporters were able to reach the troubled city on Friday.

Emerging democracies in Eastern Europe welcomed the news and appealed for peace.

Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth of Hungary, a Warsaw Pact ally at odds with Romania over Ceausescu’s treatment of ethnic Hungarians, said: “At last we have to come to terms with each other. We cannot let the historic opportunity pass.”

In Czechoslovakia, opposition leader Vaclav Havel asked the Romanians, “in the name of our velvet revolution,” not to take violent revenge.

“In our country, there was a slogan shouted, ‘We are not like them,’ ” Havel said in a message to Romanians. “You should ask for a just punishment for Ceausescu, but not the death penalty. Stop the wave of violence. Otherwise it will flow over all of Europe.”

East Germany, a staunch ally of Romania until its own recent revolution, said, “We extend our heartiest greetings to the Romanian people and our best wishes for success on this path.”