Anti-Communist A Few Sentences manifesto published 30 years ago Saturday

Saturday is the 30th anniversary of the publication of the dissident A Few Sentences manifesto in the then illegal newspaper Lidové noviny, on June 22, 1989. The document demanded the end of criminalisation of Czechoslovakia’s opposition, the release of political prisoners and the lifting of a ban on public gatherings.

A Few Sentences is considered to have been officially declared on June 27, when its text was broadcast on Radio Free Europe. Over the coming months it was signed by around 40,000 people, making it the biggest action of its kind. Communism fell in Czechoslovakia five months later.

Author: Ian Willoughby