Current Affairs 35th anniversary of Jan Palach self-immolation
On Friday, the Czech Republic marks the 35th anniversary of the self-immolation of student Jan Palach who set himself alight in protest at the growing lethargy in society to the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.
In the afternoon of January 16, 1969, the twenty-year old history student
walked to the top of Wenceslas Square and set himself on fire. He died in
hospital three days later of severe burns. In a letter left at the scene,
Jan called on the Czechoslovak people to preserve what remained of
democracy in the country and demanded that censorship be abolished. His
funeral, attended by thousands of people, turned into a spontaneous
demonstration in support of freedom and Jan Palach's grave in a Prague
cemetery became a symbol of resistance. Two other men, Jan Zajic and Evzen
Plocek, followed Jan Palach's example in early 1969 - despite his
protestations for them not to - sacrificing their lives in protest against
the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops.
