Sunday 53rd anniversary of Palach’s act of defiance

Sunday is the 53rd anniversary of the self-immolation of Czech student Jan Palach on Prague’s Wenceslas Square in protest at apathy in the face of the Soviet occupation that had begun the previous August. Palach, who was 20, died on January 19, 1969 and tens of thousands of people later lined the streets of Prague for his funeral. His grave was moved from the city’s Olšansy cemetery after pressure from the Communists but was returned there after the restoration of democracy.

On Sunday a delegation from the Czech Senate laid wreathes at a memorial to Palach in front of the National Museum.