World : 2nd Czech Demonstration Crushed

Czechoslovak police broke up a demonstration in central Prague today for the second day in succession as human rights activists sought to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a protest suicide, dissident sources said.

The sources said a group of more than 10 activists in the Charter 77 human rights movement laid flowers in Wenceslas Square where Jan Palach set fire to himself on Jan. 16, 1969, to protest against the Soviet-led invasion the previous August. Three water cannon fired at a crowd of more than 500 supporters who then assembled around the statue of St. Wenceslas and security forces rapidly forced them out of the square and sealed it off.