The government accused opponents Monday of attempting a coup and supporters rallied behind it, occupying the offices of one opposition party and forcing another's leader to flee in an armored car. More than 15,000 people rallied in Bucharest to support the self-appointed government that took over when Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed and executed last month. News media reported similar demonstrations in several other cities, but gave no details. On Sunday, about 15,000 people protested in the capital, demanding the resignation of the Council of the National Salvation Front, the name adopted by the government that is running the country until elections planned for May 20. After initially declaring its only purpose was to guide Romania through the immediate post-revolutionary period, the Front recently said it would enter candidates in the elections. That decision angered the fledgling opposition, which says the Front _ 150 intellectuals, technocrats and former Communists _ has an unfair advantage. Many opposition politicians have pointed to the Communist pasts of leading Front members and suggested it really is the Communist Party in disguise. As the thousands of pro-government demonstrators gathered Monday outside Front headquarters in Victory Square, three of Ceausescu's henchmen pleaded guilty in court to complicity in genocide. Former Interior Minister Tudor Postelnicu, former Central Committee secretary Emil Bobu, and former Politburo member Manea Manescu, along with Ion Dinca, a former Politburo member who pleaded guilty Saturday, admitted supporting Ceausescu's order to shoot demonstrators at the revolution's outset. About the Sunday protest, Front member Silviu Brucan said it was organized by the Peasants Party, which was a dominant presence in Parliament before World War II and is thought to be the strongest opposition party now. Brucan, a ranking Communist who fell out with Ceausescu after criticizing his dictatorial methods, told reporters the rally was an attempt to overthrow the Front. ``Their shock troops came close to the main entrance of the building,'' he said. ``The whole event amounted to a putsch, a coup d'etat.'' Peasants Party spokesman Ion Ratiu said of Brucan's allegations: ``The whole thing was turned around to justify their actions today.'' He spoke at a news conference called in the hotel room he has called home since returning last week from decades of self-exile in Britain. Ratiu, a wealthy shipbuilder and real estate investor, accused the Front of staging Monday's demonstrations. Many protesters arrived at Victory Square in buses and trucks. Another pro-government rally formed around the building that houses Peasants Party headquarters, about two miles from the Front building, and at the nearby Liberal Party headquarters. ``We won't leave until you dissolve the party!'' demonstrators chanted as they forced their way into Liberal headquarters. Peasants Party leader Corneliu Coposu was evacuated building by soldiers in an armored car. No injuries were reported at either headquarters. Brucan said three people suffered stab wounds to the back during Sunday's protest, but that none was in serious condition. Brucan denied Ratiu's claim that the Front staged and paid for the demonstrations Monday, but several people outside the Peasants Party building indirectly suggested they had been under pressure to demonstrate. They said they worked in state factories and had joined their bosses at the pro-government rallies. A woman who would not give her name claimed the Sunday demonstration also was less than spontaneous. ``They were given dollars, cigarettes and lei,'' she said, referring to the Romanian currency. Both days of demonstrations violated a ban the Front has put on rallies that lack advance authorization from the police. The Front has decreed that rallies should not take place during working hours, but made no attempt to disperse Monday's pro-government demonstration.
