Monday marks 65th anniversary of communist takeover

The 65th anniversary of the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia is being marked on Monday by both communists and their opponents. The deputy chairman of the Czech Senate, Přemysl Sobotka, attended a gathering commemorating an anti-communist student march in 1948 which was violently dispersed by communist-run police. Current university students and faculty as well as former students who took part in the march 65 years ago took part in the ceremony on Nerudová street in Prague. Members and supporters of the Communist Party met at the grave of Klement Gottwald, the leader of the 1948 coup and later the country’s first communist president, to honor his memory. Also, hundreds of people attended an anti-communist rally at Prague’s Old Town Square on Monday evening.