Czech Leaders Agree to Sharing of Power : East Bloc: Embattled Communists tell reformers they are welcome into the government. Thousands continue protests throughout the country.

Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec, in a sharp about-face, said today that non-Communists could join the government, but more than 200,000 protesters still took to the streets of Prague demanding the resignation of hard-line party leader Milos Jakes.

The crowd jammed into the central Wenceslas Square only hours after Adamec was quoted as telling a group of dissidents that non-Communists could join the government.

He also said the authorities would talk to the Charter 77 human rights movement.

One of the participants at Adamec’s meeting, journalist Michael Horacek, quoted the prime minister as saying there would be no more police action similar to last Friday’s, when a demonstration by 50,000 people was violently suppressed by security forces.

Adamec also announced an official inquiry into the police action, in which at least 38 people were injured.

“He said there would be no massacre, no martial law,” Horacek, who took part in the meeting as a mediator, told a reporter.

Today’s unprecedented meeting came a day after more than 200,000 people marched through Prague and in other cities calling for the resignation of the Communist leadership and free elections.

Despite Adamec’s reassurances, some students gathering in Wenceslas Square said the switchboard at their faculty building had received calls warning them security forces had orders to shoot at demonstrators.

As the pace of events picked up dramatically, the country’s Roman Catholic Primate, Archbishop Frantisek Tomasek, added his voice to the growing chorus demanding change.

Calling for a democratic government, he said in a statement: “We must not wait, it is necessary to act. Raise your voices, all of you, no one should stand aside.”

Official accounts of Friday’s demonstration have said 38 people were injured and eight are still hospitalized. Witnesses have said the number of people hurt was more.

New protests were also staged today in the provinces, official Czechoslovak Radio said.

It said 3,000 young people massed in the country’s second largest city, Bratislava. The participants marched in procession to Hviezdoslav Square and later dispersed peacefully.

The radio said students went on strike at Bratislava University but the campus was calm.

CTK news agency said universities also stopped classes at Kosice, Banska Bystrica and Zvolen.