The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș (also called Black March, ) refer to incidents between the Hungarians and Romanians in Târgu Mureș and surrounding settlements in Transylvania, Romania in March 1990. The clashes were the bloodiest inter-ethnic incidents of the post-communist era in Transylvania.

In March 1990, clashes occurred there between the two ethnic groups in the town, involving ethnic Romanians from neighbouring villages. The clashes left 5 people dead and 300 injured.

During the celebrations of the Hungarian community on the national day of the Hungarians (15 March), accusations of nationalism and separatism began to be heard from Romanians.

The next day, groups of intoxicated Romanians began to attack state-owned stores in which ethnic Hungarians had changed the signage to include Hungarian.

Romanian media

According to the correspondent of the Romanian television, in the neighbouring town of Sovata, a statue of Nicolae Bălcescu was knocked down, generating protests of Vatra Românească.

Several teams of cameramen from the Romanian army filmed numerous episodes of an explicitly anti-Romanian turn. There were shown groups of Hungarians who chanted "Horthy, Horthy!", "Death to Romanians!" and "Transylvania to Hungary!" A 2010 article from Jurnalul Național talks about the influx of 10,000 Hungarian "tourists" who were officially coming to commemorate the Revolution of 1848. There are accounts in the same period of the desecration of the statues of Avram Iancu, Nicolae Bălcescu and some arson attempts on Romanian houses in Sovata. Such acts have generated counter-manifestations by the Romanian population.

Also, the "road signs war" started and would continue for years throughout Transylvania. One of the Târgu Mureș signs at the entry into the city was replaced with a Marosvasarhely Hungarian sign. The change sparked anger from Azomureș Romanian employees, who restored the Romanian sign.</blockquote>

According to the US State Department Human Rights Report for 1993:

<blockquote>The UDMR condemned the Supreme Court's 7 June rejection of an appeal in the case of Pal Cseresznyés, an ethnic Hungarian serving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder as a result of his involvement in the Târgu Mureș incidents of March 1990. Cseresznyés participated in the savage beating of an ethnic Romanian, which an international journalist captured on film. The UDMR's complaint centered on the length of his sentence and on the fact that he was the only one of those filmed who was brought to trial. The court maintained that, regardless of the fates of the others involved, Cseresznyes had received a fair trial and was guilty as charged. Thus it found no legal reason to grant an appeal.</blockquote>

There were 5 dead (three ethnic Hungarians and two ethnic Romanians) and 278 injured.

During the penal investigation and the court trials that followed, two ethnic Hungarians (Pál Cseresznyés and Ernő Barabás) and seven others were convicted.

Emblematic victims

There were victims on both sides, two of which received particular attention:

thumbnail|Hungarian writer [[András Sütő]]

  • On 19 March 1990, the Hungarian writer András Sütő was beaten when Romanians attacked the offices of the Democratic Union of Hungarians (UDMR). With several bones broken and being blinded in one eye, he was carried to the Bucharest Military Hospital, then, later, by a military aircraft to Budapest, Hungary, where his life was saved, but he retained a permanent eye injury. The attackers were never officially identified, or convicted.
  • On 20 March 1990, Mihăilă Cofariu, an ethnic Romanian from Ibănești village brought to Târgu Mureș along with others to beat Hungarians was beaten even after he fell unconscious. Following that he remained neurologically disabled. The event was presented in international media as a Hungarian being beaten by Romanians. He was brought in coma to the county's emergency hospital and spent several months in hospitals in Romania and Germany. One of the perpetrators, ethnic Hungarian Pál Cseresznyés, was tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he was released in 1996 by Romanian President Emil Constantinescu, as an act of reconciliation. The other convicted perpetrator, Ernő Barabás, emigrated to Hungary. He has also received a 10-year imprisonment sentence, but the Hungarian authorities denied all requests for extradition from the Romanian authorities. In 2020, both a Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei as well as a Hungarian newspaper Magyar Narancs confirmed that Ernő Barabás is the owner of the Hell Energy Drink company.

Dispute over causes

The prevalent opinion in the Romanian public is that the incidents were triggered by direct attacks by Hungarians against Romanian institutions, symbols, statues and policemen. They claim that the riots were part of a plan to separate part of Transylvania from Romania to reintegrate it with Hungary.

Most Hungarians maintain, however, that rumours about Hungarian violence against Romanians and/or state institutions were unjustified or widely exaggerated. Hungarians also state that rumours about Hungarian violence were spread to undermine legitimate Hungarian demands (such as language, cultural rights or possible ethnic-based regional autonomy).

Involvement of Romanian government

thumbnail|[[Ion Iliescu, President of Romania at the time of the incident]]

The nature of the involvement of the Romanian government is also disputed. The official account is that the government succeeded in calming the situation and ended the clashes. However, that has been disputed:

  • Multiple Hungarians claim that the government was slow to act and failed to stem the violence at the beginning and thus responsible for its escalation. They support their arguments with filmed scenes in which police or other representatives of the authorities overlook events. They also criticise the fact that the vast majority of those taken into custody after the events were ethnic Hungarians, which suggests an ethnic bias.
  • Multiple ethnic Romanians claim that the government did not intervene fast enough to protect the population and that clearly-identified Hungarians involved in the violence were not prosecuted.

According to a 1990 report by Human Rights Watch, "the authorities... failed to respond in an adequate manner to protect the citizens of Târgu Mureș". According to its director, the filming crew arrived in Transylvania after the events, and most footage, including that of Mihăilă Cofariu, were provided by the Hungarian producer team, who let them believe that Cofariu was really a Hungarian being beaten by Romanians.

See also

  • Romanian Hearth Union
  • Valea Uzului ethnic conflict

Notes

References

  • Romania, Human Rights Developments, Human Rights Watch World Report for the year 1990. The section dealing with Romania contains a description of the events and their context. Accessed 17 Jan 2006.
  • 1993 Human Rights Report, 31 January 1994, US State Department (Archive), Romania Human Rights Practices. Accessed 17 Jan 2006.
  • Christoffer M. Andersen, Resurgent Romanian Nationalism: In the Wake of the Interethnic Clashes in Tirgu Mures March 1990. September 2005. Senior thesis in politics and Society, New Anglo-American College, Prague.
  • Tirgu Mures 1990 – rememorarea unei drame neelucidate ("Târgu Mureș 1990 – remembering some unelucidated dramas"), article of divers.ro.
  • Mihai Mincan, Laurențiu Mihu, Adevarul despre cele trei zile blestemate ("The truth about three reprobate days"), article in Evenimentul Zilei, 8 August 2005.
  • Sok keserves küzdelem vár még ránk, <!--Could someone please translate title?--> a BBC interview with András Sütő, Hungarian writer.
  • Artificial tensions from Budapest/Tensiuni artificiale de la Budapesta, article in Ziua.
  • Hungarian prosecutors do not accept Cofariu's hit man turn over/Procurorii unguri nu vor sa-l dea pe agresorul lui Cofariu, article in România Liberă.