The Possible History of the Romanian Revolution. When the human chain of supporters, gathered in Timişoara to protect reformed pastor László Tőkés, grew into a massive crowd of thousands chanting anti-Ceauşescu slogans, not even the protesters believed that one of the most obscure communist dictatorships of the twentieth century was really coming to an end. All the more so because the army and Securitate troops managed to restore order temporarily, leaving several dozen protesters dead. Yet a few days later, on December 22 1989, it really happened: Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena fled the Bucharest building of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party on board a helicopter.