them "political war criminals", and deported them to forced labor camps in Siberia; the surviving partisans were killed or captured by March 1945. Scholar Andrei Miroiu notes that at least part of the partisans may have actually been German troops trapped behind enemy lines. As soon as September 12, 1944, the Romanian authorities were actively cooperating with the NKVD in capturing the partisans, surrendering them to the Soviet Army. After the Allied armistice with Romania (11–12 September 1944), the Red Army had a free run in Romania and the Romanian government did not have authority over Northern Bukovina. In late 1944 and early 1945, some small armed groups were formed in Romania, with a mission of harassing the Red Army in a future war between the Soviets and the West. After the war, most of these groups dissolved while others remained in the mountains until 1948 when they became active. In May 1946, General Aurel Aldea, the former Minister of the Interior of the first Sănătescu cabinet, was arrested and charged with "bringing together various subversive organizations under his command". It appears, however, that the "National Resistance Movement", which he coordinated, posed little threat, if any, to the establishment of the communist regime. Anti-communist demonstrations in Bucharest On 8 November 1945, the last large-scale anticommunist demonstration occurred in Bucharest; tens of thousands of people, most of them members and supporters of the opposition parties, gathered in front of the Royal Palace to show their support for King Michael I of Romania and protest against the Petru Groza communist-dominated government. After the Communists also sent in armed workers, violence erupted between the two groups; the Romanian soldiers in the Soviet Army fired warning shots and ultimately the crowd dispersed. During the event, 11 were killed and dozens injured, however, the shooters were not identified, with the government and opposition accusing each other. Later documents indicated that the communist Gheorghe Pintilie was among the ones who fired. After the elections of 1946, a coalescence of anti-communist forces led to a structure reuniting generals, senior officers, and politicians preparing and coordinating armed groups under a single command. The central coordinating structure inside Romania reported on this initiative to the Romanian National Committee residing in Paris, which in turn informed the Western governments. The project was eventually intercepted by the Romanian authorities, which subsequently carried out massive arrests in spring 1948, comprising up to