Overview

The Candle demonstration in Bratislava of March 25, 1988 went down in history as one of the most significant public manifestations of resistance to the communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia. The gathering was a harbinger of the gentle revolution of November 17, 1989, which led to the fall of forty years of totalitarianism and the rise of democracy. The demonstration for religious freedom and human rights was organized two decades ago by people from the secret Catholic communities persecuted by the authorities at the time. They demanded the appointment of Catholic bishops for vacant Slovak dioceses, complete religious freedom and also the observance of human rights. As a result, the originally religious event acquired a broader civic dimension.