Forty years on, Czechs and Slovaks unite to remember Soviet invasion

Published on Thursday 21 August 2008 22:35

CZECHS and Slovaks held ceremonies yesterday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed the liberal reforms of Alexander Dubcek and ended an era known as the "Prague Spring".

Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, travelled to Bratislava, the Slovak capital, while Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, joined his Czech counterpart, Mirek Topolanek, in Prague for commemoration ceremonies.

Symbols of that era were on display in Prague's Wenceslas Square, the main location of clashes between Soviet troops and Prague citizens.

"Communism is beyond reform. Every attempt to liberalise it leads to its destruction," Mr Topolanek wrote in yesterday's Lidove Noviny daily. "The only defence against Moscow's imperialism is an alliance with the West. That is the main lesson of August 1968."

The Soviet-led invasion in the early hours of 21 August, 1968, involved armies from five Warsaw Pact countries and 500 planes.

It did not take long for them to force the Czechoslovak army to surrender, ending the attempt by Mr Dubcek, the Communist Party leader and reformer, to give his Moscow-imposed regime a "human face".

Several hundred people died in the conflict, which ended a few months of press freedom, political reforms and unrestricted travel.