On the 15th of November 1987, presidential elections were held in Romania. Elections with one candidate only: Nicolae Ceausescu, who was in Brasov on the election day.
The party officials had planed that the workers of the local truck factory „Steagul Rosu“ (Red Flag) would, at the end of the night shift, instead of going home, collectively give their vote for the Communist Party.
Facing poor working conditions and a planed salary reductions, the 1500 workers got furious and marched in protest against the regime towards the center of Brasov where the election celebrations were taking place. At first mistaken by the police for a pro-Ceausescu manifestation, the protesters were not stopped and workers from another factory joined the protest until more than 20.000 people were on the street.
The protesters stormed the headquarter of the Communist Party and lit a fire on the central city square burning party documents, propaganda materials and portraits of Ceausescu. The protest was continuing all day and could only be ended when army forces joined police and secret service.