The World : Prague Blames Foreigners

The state-run Czechoslovak media blamed foreigners visiting under the guise of tourism for stirring up protests by thousands on the 21st anniversary of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. Authorities said 370 people, including 50 foreigners, were arrested in the protests. Prague Radio asserted that 1,000 Italians and 3,000 Polish Solidarity activists had come to the capital under what it termed “tourism in disguise” to stir up the demonstrations. This and other similar commentaries were an apparent attempt by Czechoslovakia’s entrenched leadership to ignore domestic pressure for reform and depict such pressure as the work of outsiders.