Tens of thousands of people, some chanting "Greater Romania," streamed across the Soviet border to visit their ethnic Romanian brethren after the frontier was opened for the first time in decades.
For six hours on Sunday, Romanians needed no visas to cross into the Soviet republic of Moldavia, which was known as Bessarabia and was part of Romania before the Soviets seized it 50 years ago."Let's cover the wound of Moldavia with flowers . . . and see our forgotten brothers again," said an appeal published in Faclia, the local daily in the Soviet republic's capital of Kishenev.
Demands for the return of Bessarabia have grown strongly on both sides of the border since the December overthrow and execution of hard-line Communist Nicolae Ceausescu in a popular revolution.
Political reforms have allowed free expression of nationalist yearnings in the Soviet Union and the nationalist fervor was tangible Sunday as Romanians streamed through eight temporarily opened border crossings into Soviet Moldavia.
At least 40,000 exuberant, flag-waving people poured over Ungheni bridge, throwing flowers into the Prut River that forms the frontier. Many carried Romanian-language books and records to their kin in the Soviet Union.
When the bridge became crowded, some people decided not to wait and swam the river instead.
Soviet citizens were not allowed to cross into Romania, but small groups from Kishinev sneaked in.