Name: January 1989: Palach Week sees rise in open opposition to Communists
Uploaded: 2024-01-19T13:59:15+00:00
Channel: Martin Hladík
Description: Palach Week, which occurred 10 months before protests that toppled Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime, began 35 years ago, on January 15, 1989. The demonstrations were brutally suppressed – but still signaled a growing willingness to reject the regime. What became known as Palach Week, the most significant street protests in Czechoslovakia prior to the Velvet Revolution,

Photo: Czech Television

Palach Week, which occurred 10 months before protests that toppled Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime, began 35 years ago, on January 15, 1989. The demonstrations were brutally suppressed – but still signaled a growing willingness to reject the regime.

What became known as Palach Week, the most significant street protests in Czechoslovakia prior to the Velvet Revolution, began on Sunday January 15, 1989.

The initial aim was to commemorate the self-immolation of student Jan Palach in central Prague exactly two decades earlier.

Co-organisers Charter 77 had announced in advance their intention of laying flowers in tribute to Palach. The Communist authorities duly banned the event – and were waiting, says historian Jan Adamec.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby