Czech Police Beat Demonstrators Calling for Freedom

Club-wielding riot police charged thousands of protesters Monday in Prague, beating dozens of them when they chanted demands for freedom on the 21st anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Security forces broke up a crowd of more than 2,000 people who sang the national anthem and cheered a group of young activists from Hungary who told them that neighboring East Bloc states should not have taken part in the invasion, which crushed the “Prague Spring” reform movement.

But after hundreds of helmeted officers cleared central Wenceslas Square, more than 1,000 demonstrators tried to march across the River Vltava to the prime minister’s office.

Police blocked the medieval Charles Bridge, and two hours later, 1,500 protesters regrouped in the square to jeer police and chant demands for freedom.

Hundreds were seized.

Dozens of police vans, lights flashing and sirens wailing, brought in reinforcements to attack those who ignored orders broadcast over loudspeakers to leave.

Police attacked a crew from the Austrian television network ORF, felling the cameraman with a karate blow, smashing the camera and cutting their cables. An ABC News crew was harassed and other foreign photojournalists’ film was confiscated.

In Washington, the State Department urged Czechoslovakia to join other East Bloc states in granting wider freedom to its citizens. In Moscow, the Soviet Foreign Ministry said the 1968 invasion should be seen in the political context of its time.

The demonstrators had gathered in Wenceslas Square for what was planned as a silent march. They broke into loud applause and raised their hands in V-for-victory signs when a group of Hungarian activists unfurled a banner of support.

The banner, proclaiming “The Bolsheviks Came With Tanks, We Come With Flowers,” was immediately torn down by plainclothes police. Soviet-led armor and troops of all East Bloc states except Romania poured into Czechoslovakia on the night of Aug. 20-21, 1968.

‘Long Live Freedom’

The crowd chanted “Long live freedom!” and “Long live Poland!”--showing how reform in other East Bloc states is encouraging demands for liberalization in Czechoslovakia, where hard-line Communist politics have prevailed since the 1968 invasion.

Police, backed by Communist Party militia in battle fatigues, warned the demonstrators to disperse about 30 minutes after protesters started gathering, and then moved in.

Rows of police with raised night sticks stood across the big square while the crowd dispersed.

The demonstrators were responding to a call by the Charter 77 human rights group and eight other independent groups for the peaceful protest to mark the anniversary.

Many shouted their admiration for the country’s leading dissident, Vaclav Havel, and ousted Communist Party leader Alexander Dubcek. Dubcek, who spearheaded the “Prague Spring” reform movement, was later drummed out of office and the party. He now lives as a pensioner in Bratislava.

Police confiscated film from several Western journalists and several tourists, including East Germans who photographed detentions.

The Prague government has come in for severe international criticism following police brutality at previous demonstrations. The Communist leadership waged a campaign ahead of the anniversary vowing it would break up any demonstrations. It sticks firmly by its defense of the 1968 invasion as necessary to spare Czechoslovakia from counterrevolution.

Prague Radio reported that “a group of hooligans met today in the center of Prague and used the pretext of the anniversary for demonstrations. Police appealed for them to disperse and then restored order.”

The authorities reacted angrily to last week’s condemnation of the invasion by the Polish Parliament and the Hungarian Communist Party and government.

More than 30 people were detained Sunday in Wenceslas Square when they sought to stage another silent march for political reform. More than 10,000 people stunned the authorities by marching through Prague during last year’s 20th anniversary.

Police placed Charter 77 spokespersons Dana Nemcova and Tomas Hradilek under house arrest. The whereabouts of most other leading dissidents were unknown. Many have left the capital during the anniversary after police warned them to do so, but others were believed to have been detained.