35 years ago, the last hour of the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) began to strike in what was then Czechoslovakia.
In Prague, a permitted memorial gathering of about 15,000 mostly young people to honor the memory of student Jan Opletal, murdered by the Nazis in 1939, grew into a demonstration demanding political reforms, which the police harshly repressed. The inadequate intervention of the security forces against the demonstrators on and around Národní třída triggered an avalanche of revolutionary events, which subsequently led to the restoration of the pluralistic democratic political system in Czechoslovakia.
Since 1988, the communist regime has already been weakened by increasing manifestations of open dissent, to which more and more citizens began to join, in addition to a group of dissidents. Since August 1988, thousands of people have been gathering in the center of Prague and in some other cities on “forbidden” anniversaries, and since the summer of 1989, the Several Sentences petition has received unprecedented support. Riots and regularly escalating clashes between demonstrators and police in Prague culminated precisely in the fall of 1989. The ruling nomenclature of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic failed to respond favorably to the growing dissatisfaction of the citizens and with its violent interventions deepened the gap between the party leadership and the citizens even more. Communist regimes in other European countries, which fell under the control of the totalitarian Soviet Union after the Second World War, also crumbled. The easing of conditions in the former Soviet satellites was made possible by changes in the leadership of the Soviet Union.
The demonstration authorized by the authorities to mark the 50th anniversary of the commemoration of Jan Opletal, which took place under the auspices of the then pro-communist youth organization Socialist Youth Union (SSM), took place in a tense atmosphere. On November 17, 1989, 15,000 people, mostly young people, came to the building of the Institute of Pathology in Albertova. In addition to commemorating Opletal’s tragic death, most of them also wanted to openly express their dissatisfaction with the domestic political situation at the time.
Vyšehrad’s Slavín was formally designated as the destination of the subsequent memorial procession, but most of the participants eventually went to the city center along the originally intended route. Despite the chanting of anti-government slogans, the demonstration maintained a rather reverent character. Gradually, other citizens joined her. A procession of many thousands proceeded along the embankment along the Vltava to Národní třída, through which it wanted to reach Wenceslas Square.
Around eight o’clock in the evening, however, the protesters in the area of Národní trída were hermetically sealed off by cordons of almost 1,600 members of the orderly units of the National Security Corps, then the police. Some participants left the area by partially free passage through Mikulandská Street, but at 20:18 it was no longer possible to leave.
After approximately 20:25, the security forces began raiding individuals. In the cordon at Mikulandská street, culverts lined with “alleys” of police officers were created, where the squeezed students were brutally attacked and beaten. After 21:00 the demonstration was completely dispersed. During the intervention, according to the report of the commission of the Federal Assembly of May 9, 1990, 561 people were injured, the Independent Commission of Medical Professionals of the Civic Forum reported 32 more injured.
The rapidly spreading news of the brutality of the operation, along with rumors of casualties, sparked an unprecedented wave of anti-regime resistance. Although the information about the alleged death of the student Martin Šmíd, which spread on November 18, was quickly refuted, the events got out of the government’s hands. Outraged university students announced a strike on November 18, which was joined by Prague theater actors on the same day. The next day, November 19, the Civic Forum movement was founded in Prague, and a day later, Public Violence against Violence was founded in Bratislava. Opinions in support of students were also issued by other civic groups and initiatives, political parties, organizations, institutions and plants.
The protests gradually gained support among broad sections of the population. Throughout the following week, first in Prague and then in other cities and in Slovakia, mass meetings of citizens were held, where demands for political reforms and acceleration of the democratization process were expressed. The largest of them was on November 25 and 26 on the Letenská plain in Prague, with the participation of about 700,000 people.
The two-hour general strike on November 27 was considered a general citizens’ referendum in support of the demands of the students and the Civic Forum and radical changes, especially the cancellation of the article on the leading role of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic in the constitution, the resignation of compromised representatives of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic and the government, the investigation of the intervention on November 17 and the calling of free elections .
Events then began to take a rapid turn. The new democratic forces forced the reconstruction of the federal government and the resignation of Gustáv Husák from the position of the country’s president. Their victory over the crumbling communist regime was then confirmed by the election of the new president of the republic, who became the leader of the opposition Václav Havel on December 29. A new society began to grow on democratic and pluralistic foundations.
As the Day of Students’ Struggle for Freedom and Democracy, November 17, which was already declared International Student Day in 1941, has since 1990 been included among the important days of the state. Since 2019, November 17 has been added to the public holidays – it was renamed from the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy to the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy and the International Student Day.
Source: www.tyden.cz
