Celebrations marking 25 anniversary of the start of the Romanian revolution

(17 Dec 2014) Romanians marked the 25th anniversary of the Romanian revolution on Wednesday at a cemetery in Timisoara, the city where the uprising said to have begun. People attended a religious service and laid wreaths to honour those who lost their lives during six days of fighting. 77-year-old Iezdici Radoica lost her daughter in the violence of the revolution, in which some 1,100 people died. On Wednesday she told how her daughter Slobodanca went to the train station 25 years ago and never returned. "I don't know where she is, there is no grave, nothing. I come here and cry my eyes out. She has no forgiveness from the priest, no coffin, she's like a dog you have thrown away, who knows where," she said. Rodoica now says the revolution was "not worth it". "Not only for me but for all these people. What have they done? (referring to Romania's current political leaders). They only look after their pockets. They broke all the factories," she said. The Romanian revolution was sparked on 16 December 1989 when authorities tried to forcibly move an ethnic Hungarian pastor, Laszlo Toekes, from his home in Timisoara to a remote rural parish. Residents of the city flocked to his defence, leading to clashes with police. The next day, police, army and secret service units began firing at protesters. It was the start of six days of fighting that subsequently spilled over to Bucharest, killing some 1,100 people and leading to the toppling of Ceausescu and the Communist regime. On 22 December 1989, after ruling Romania with an iron fist for nearly 25 years, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife fled Bucharest. They were executed on Christmas eve 1989. On Wednesday, Lazlo Toekes spoke to pupils at a school in Timisoara. "A great thing (gained in revolution) is the freedom of conscience and to give expression to this freedom through the freedom of speech," he said. Romania has changed dramatically in the 25 years since the revolution and began the slow transformation to a market economy and democracy, joining The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004 and the European Union in 2007. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...