| 1989 Moldavian civil unrest | |
|---|---|
| Part ofRevolutions of 1989 andDissolution of the Soviet Union | |
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| Location |  Chișinău,Moldavian SSR,Soviet Union |
| Date | November 7 and 10, 1989 |
The1989 civil unrest in Moldavia began on November 7, 1989, inChișinău, in theMoldavian SSR, and continued on November 10, when protesters burned down the headquarters of theMinistry of Internal Affairs (led byVladimir Voronin). Festivals on 7 November 1989 commemorating theOctober Revolution and 10 November celebrating the Soviet police force offered excellent opportunities for oppositionists to challenge authorities in highly visible settings and disrupt events of premiere importance to the Soviet regime. During the former event, protesters interrupted amilitary parade involving troops of the Chișinău Garrison on Victory Square (nowGreat National Assembly Square), which forced the military to cancel the mobile column planned that day.[1][2]
Popular Front of Moldova activists, often going beyond the official sanction of the movement leadership, organized actions that embarrassed the republican leadership, ultimately resulted in riots incentral Chișinău. This unrest sealed the fate of the increasingly weak First Secretary of theCommunist Party of Moldavia. At the Politburo meeting of the CPM Central Committee of 9 November, the first secretary of the party, Simon Grossu urged militia to proceed to prosecute and arrest those responsible for the events of November 7. Moreover, he proposed that those arrested to be deported outside Moldavia.[3] On November 10, protesters burned down the headquarters of theMinistry of Internal Affairs. On November 10, the minister of Internal AffairsVladimir Voronin was hiding in the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, while defending theMinistry of Internal Affairs was entrusted to General Zhukov.[4]
At the end of a year that had seenSemion Grossu and his organization pummeled from both the national revivalist right and the "ultrarevolutionary" internationalist left,Moscow replaced the First Secretary withPetru Lucinschi in a snap Central Committee plenum on November 16, 1989.[5]
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