Romania's Spy Agency Monitors Gold Mine Protests
Source: Associated Press
Romania's Spy Agency Monitors Gold Mine Protests
BUCHAREST, Romania September 30, 2013 (AP)
By ALISON MUTLER Associated Press
Romania's domestic spy agency has been monitoring a planned Canadian gold mine for years, its chief acknowledged Monday, saying that some demonstrations against the project had been manipulated by people he called "eco-anarchists."
Spy chief George Maior's comments before a parliamentary committee came after the head of Romania's foreign intelligence agency said last week it had been monitoring foreigners who allegedly paid Romanians to agitate for and against the massive gold mine project in northwest Romania.
The disclosure by Maior was surprising because it was reminiscent of Romania's dreaded Securitate secret police, which once used an estimated 760,000 informers from all walks of life.
Maior said his agency had sent 500 memos to decision-making authorities from 1999 to 2013 about the planned gold mine, which has sparked large street protests in recent weeks. He insisted the agency's actions were legal and were taken because the mine in Rosia Montana is "a problem of national security."
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