PM Orban: Freedom and democracy must be defended every day

Freedom and democracy must be defended every day by censoring any tendency to use power other than to the benefit of the people, and future generations must understand that, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Friday. 

He attended a wreath-laying ceremony in Brasov to the memory of those who lost their lives during the anti-communist uprising of the workers of Brasov on November 15, 1987. 

"I wanted to be here today as a reminder of the respect to those who, during an extremely difficult time, at the end of a dictatorship that did not let people even breathe, had the remarkable courage to shout out their dissatisfaction and protested against abuses, against dignity being trampled under, against extremely bad living conditions," said Orban. 

He added that the memory of those people must be a living one, especially as the younger generations find it difficult to understand how the regime of that time worked and how much courage and spirit of sacrifice those who came out to protest in the streets at an oppressive regime, on November 15, 1987 had. 

"Basically, the workers' revolt and those who joined the Steagul Rosu workers was a first blow to the communist regime, showing (...) how perverse the methods of the law enforcement forces were to maintain in power a regime that was acting against people. In the end the regime would collapse and, after three years, the December Revolution put an end to this oppressive communist regime that prevented people from truly having a chance to a better life. Eternal gratitude to the heroes, to those who in 1987 gave an extremely powerful blow to the communist regime and remembrance of those who are no more and of all those who remained alive; keep their memory alive and especially the generations to come should understand that democracy, freedom, is not a perpetual fact, it must be defended every day by our attitude, by censoring any tendency to use power other than to the benefit of the people," said Orban. 

During the ceremony, a wreath was laid by the Romanian government at the memorial of the participants in the anticommunist revolt of the workers of Brasov before the Brasov County Clinical Emergency Hospital.