Anti-Government Protesters Seize Bucharest Square
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BUCHAREST, Romania — More than 4,000 anti-government protesters took over a central Bucharest square Tuesday, blocking the city’s main artery.
“We cannot allow a bunch of vagabonds to disturb public peace and order,” interim President Ion Iliescu told the provisional Parliament.
The crowd burst through cordons of helmeted police armed with clubs and automatic rifles who had occupied the square after dispersing protesters in the morning.
Bucharest’s police chief, Gen. Dimitru Bitlan, told Parliament, “Police will only use violence in response to violence.”
Protesters have accused the National Salvation Front government, which took power after December’s overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, of harboring former Communists.
The front will be running in Romania’s first free elections in over half a century May 20. Iliescu is a candidate for president.
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