Current Affairs Commemorating Jan Opletal, whose murder triggered off traditional November 17 student marches
On the morning of November 17th 1989 no one would have ever believed that the events of that day would lead to the collapse of forty years of Communist rule. A quiet and peaceful student march was violently cracked down by police. Some 170 students were injured, triggering a wave of nationwide strikes and protests. Just weeks later, the Communist regime fell. But few people are aware that the student march was held to commemorate events fifty years earlier. On October 28th, 1939, a student demonstration protesting at the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia saw medical student Jan Opletal shot dead.
Jan Opletal
Back
