25 March 1988
candle demonstration
About this moment
The Candle demonstration (Slovak: Sviečková manifestácia) on 25 March 1988 in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, was the first mass demonstration since 1969 against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. The demonstration was organized by Roman Catholic dissent groups asking for religious freedom in Czechoslovakia. The peaceful candle demonstration of five thousand believers was suppressed by the police.