30 years ago on this day in the city of Timisoara protests started after the communist regime tried to evict Hungarian Calvinist priest Laszlo Tokes from his home. The crowds grow and turn against the regime as students start to join in.

The Romanian revolution begins

The army is sent to crush the protests. What follows is 4 days of clashes. Hundreds where arrested and dozens killed as orders are given to open fire with war munition

Securitate troops take the bodies of the dead to burn or bury them outside the city in mass graves

On the 19th of December after failing to crush the movement, people finally take over the central square of the city. Workers from nearby factories declare a general strike and army defections start.
Ceausescu declares a "state of necessity".

On the 20th people form the "Romanian Democratic Forum" as thousands of workers begin marching to the square to join the protests. General Gusa orders the army back in the barracks and tells officials in Bucharest he lost control of the city.

Timisoara is declared a free city

Ceausescu was on a visit to Iran since the 18th and this is the news he returns to. In a speech on national television he says that 'hooligans and agents' are causing the problems in Timisoara.

He calls for a grand rally in Bucharest to condemn "foreign imperialist meddling"