Czechoslovaks Shout “Russians Go Home”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31832, 9 November 1968, Page 15

Czechoslovaks Shout “Russians Go Home”

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) PRAGUE, November 8. Thousands of Czechoslovaks shouted “Russians go home” in the middle of Prague during a series of demonstrations marking the fifty-first anniversary of Russia’s Bolshevik revolution yesterday.

During the day youths surged through the streets and yanked down every Soviet flag within reach. Those they could not reach they jeered at.

During one of the largest anti-Soviet demonstrations of the day, protesters gathered round the statue of King Wenceslas in the vast square bearing his name. At the statue, scores of candles were lighted in memory of the victims of the Soviet-led invasion in August.

Early this evening, police pushed the demonstrators out of Wenceslas Square, but thousands marched on the Prague Radio building 300 yards away. A 300-man police cordon barred the way to the build-

ing’s entrance and protected a long Soviet flag draped from the upper storeys. A police loudspeaker told the crowd “Go home—this is the last warning. We shall arrest anyone who remains.” Radio workers inside the building tossed flowers down to the demonstrators.

Thousands of youths shouting anti-Soviet slogans marched through the streets in the evening. Police hurriedly threw a cordon round the headquarters of the Communist Party Central Committee as students and workers marched on it. Batons Used Police used their batons on the heads and shoulders of demonstrators in some of the incidents, and an undetermined number of demonstrators were detained. Observers said the demonstrations showed that the Communist Party secretary (Mr Dubcek) was losing popularity with the more outspoken students and young workers.

They were demonstrating not only against Mr Dubcek’s part in the ceremonies honouring the Red Army, but also against his current policy of lying low and letting the

people’s voice express Czechoslovak opposition to the Kremlin’s policies. The Czechoslovak authorities were concerned that unless their police showed they could handle the situation, Soviet troops would rush back into the city from their encampments in the countryside.