The mineriads () were a series of protests and often violent altercations by Jiu Valley miners in Bucharest during the 1990s, particularly 1990–91. The term "mineriad" is also used to refer to the most significant and violent of these encounters, which occurred June 13–15, 1990. During the 1990s, the Jiu Valley miners played a visible role in Romanian politics, and their protests reflected inter-political and societal struggles after the Romanian Revolution. January 1990 mineriad 28 January After the National Salvation Front's decision to transform itself into a political party, an anti-Communist demonstration took place in Bucharest's Victoria Square (Piața Victoriei), organised by the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD), National Liberal Party (PNL), and other historical and newly founded oppositional smaller parties. Even though the anti-Communist demonstration started out (and was intended to be) non-violent, the protesters charged the Parliament building and demanded the resignation of the FSN party. After that, the FSN started talks with the parliamentary opposition parties. 29 January The miners boarded the trains at Gara de Nord and departed to their homes, but not before President Ion Iliescu thanked them for their services. February 1990 mineriad Less than a month after the January mineriad, another anti-Communist manifestation took place in Bucharest on February 18. Despite the demonstrators' pleas to non-violence, several persons started throwing stones into the Government building. Riot police and army forces intervened to restore order, and on the same night, 4,000 miners headed to Bucharest. Opposition leaders and independent media speculated that the demonstration was manipulated by the Securitate and the FSN. Miners maintained their relative innocence of the violence, claiming that the agitation and most of the brutality was the work of Iliescu’s government agents who had infiltrated and disguised themselves as miners. June 1990 mineriad The Romanian miners of the Jiu Valley were called by the newly elected power to Bucharest to end the riots that broke up on 13 June 1990. As President Ion Iliescu put it, the miners were called to save the "besieged democratic regime" and restore order and democracy in Bucharest. The government trucked in thousands of miners from the Jiu Valley to Bucharest to confront the demonstrators. The rest of Romania and the world watched the government television broadcasts of miners and other unionized workers brutally grappling with students and other protesters. Over the course of a month-long demonstration in University Square, many protesters had gathered