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Nov 17, 2019
Remembering the Velvet Revolution
© Markus Lange/Offset
Today we're visiting Prague for the 30th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution in what was then Czechoslovakia. On November 17, 1989, during their annual International Students Day observance, 15,000 students in Prague began demonstrating against the Communist Party's authoritarian rule over the country. After the official end of the demonstration, the students continued marching to the center of the city. When they reached Národní Street, they were met by security forces who, after blocking all escape routes, began attacking. Afterwards, unfounded rumors of an injured or possibly dead student triggered strikes among students, actors, and others.
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