Candle Demonstration (Bratislava)
The candle demonstration ( Slovak Sviečková demonštrácia , Sviečková manifestácia or Bratislavský Veľký piatok - "Bratislava Good Friday ") was a demonstration on March 25, 1988 in Bratislava in what was then Czechoslovakia against the communist government . It was organized by Roman Catholic dissidents and was the first large anti-communist demonstration in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s.
Around 2,000 people took part in the demonstration in Hviezdoslav Square and a few thousand more people in the surrounding streets. The initially calm demonstration for religious freedom and human rights was crushed by the police. Corresponding news were broadcast, for example, by ORF , Radio Free Europe , Voice of America , BBC and Radio Vatican .
The then Prime Minister of Slovakia, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Culture and other leading figures watched the "Operation" from inside the Carlton Hotel on Hviezdoslav Square.
Today March 25th is the day of the struggle for human rights in Slovakia .
Web links
- svieckovamanifestacia.sk - memorial site