Czechs marking 50th anniversary of Jan Palach’s death

Czechs are paying homage to the memory of student Jan Palach who set himself on fire to protest against growing public apathy to the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. His action roused the public and hundreds of thousands turned out for his funeral which was perceived as a massive silent protest against the communist regime.

A mass will be served in his memory at Tyn Cathedral on Prague’s Old Town Square and people have been lighting candles and laying flowers at a plaque in his memory on Wenceslas Square, in his home town Všetaty and outside the Prague clinic where he died.