Czechs and Slovaks alike have been marking the Velvet Revolution that brought down the Communist government of the then-Czechoslovakia. TIME looks back at the events of 1989 as well as the anniversary itself
Pre-President
Vaclav Havel (center), the dissident playwright, who led the revolution before becoming president, addresses a crowd of demonstrators celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights in Prague, December 1988. By Nov. 29, 1989, after weeks of protests, the Communists dissolved their single-party state; by the end of that year, Havel was elected the first president of the then Czechoslovakia.LUBOMIR KOTEK-JOEL ROBINE /AFP / Getty Images
Twenty Years On
Former Czech Republic President Havel speaks to reporters after commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Havel organized a concert November 14 where President Barack Obama broadcast a video message saying: "Your spirit, your courage inspired the world."AP Photo / Petr David Jose
Best of Friends
Incumbent Czech President Vaclav Klaus (2nd right) and Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer (left) greet residents after laying flowers at the Velvet Revolution memorial.REUTERS / Petr Josek
Next Generation
A child lights a candle at the memorial of the Velvet Revolution in Prague's city center.REUTERS / Petr Josek
Lighting the Way
People light candles at the memorial for the Velvet Revolution in Prague's city center on November 17, 2009. Twenty years earlier, students had clashed with police, sparking the uprising that toppled the Communist government of the then-Czechoslovakia.Sean Gallup / Getty Images
A Long Walk to Freedom
In this photo from Nov. 23, 1989, demonstrators carry a picture of Alexander Dubcek, the leader of the ill-fated Prague Spring, as they marched towards Wenceslas Square in Prague for yet another mass demonstration, attended by more than 300,000 people. Twenty years on, the Czech people commemorated the Velvet Revolution with speeches at a university campus, followed by students gathering in Prague's Albertov district to retrace the steps of a march that would change the course of Czechoslovak history.AP Photo / Peter Dejong
People Power
This image from November, 1989, shows demonstrators carrying a sign indicating "Police sticks prohibited." At the time, it was the seventh straight day of mass demonstrations demanding democracy and freedom in the Czechoslovakian capital. The Communist Party announced five days later that it would relinquish power.AP Photo / Dusan Vranic
Czech Mates
Twenty years ago, tens of thousands of people crowded around the Czech national monument in Prague during a mass demonstration calling for "svobodne volby": free elections.AP Photo / Peter Dejong
Candles in the Wind
The lighting of candles and laying of leaflets constantly took place during 1989's Velvet Revolution. In a speech to the Czech senate twenty years later, former President Havel paid tribute to the memory of those who had helped bring down the Communist regime, including his late wife Olga.AP Photo / Dusan Vranic
Stalin Tactic
From the 1989 demonstrations, a member of the public carries a bust of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin with a sign translating, "Nothing Lasts Forever", during a march through Prague.AP Photo / Dusan Vranic
Sea of Faces
Who’s Sorry Now?
On Nov. 26, 1989, two members of the Czech riot police, who took part in violently subduing a demonstration of students nine days earlier, apologized at a mass rally in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Three days later Parliament voted unanimously to scrap the Constitutional provisions granting power to the Communist Party and abolish the mandatory teaching of Marxist-Leninist ideology in schools.AP Photo / Antonin Novy
