They also remembered 17th November 1939, a tragically heroic day of resistance against German occupiers. Mayor of Prague Pavel Bém together with President Václav Klaus commemorated the day firstly by Hlávkova kolej (Hlávkova students’ hall of residence) they then went on to light candles by the Memorial of 17th November 1989 on Národní třída. Eventually they made their way to Republic Square to launch the exhibition that commemorates the key moments of our nation.
Old Town Square as it used to be
For this brief window in time Old Town Square was transformed back into the times of the end of the 80s, a place where ‘vekslák’, alias for slippery palmed foreign currency speculators, and ‘skořápkář,’ alias for dodgy shell game players, can be seen plying their trades. For a bit of added cultural shock value, beer and sausages were sold for the same prices as in those days! In the shell game ‘veksláks’ were tussling for Tuzex vouchers (a special voucher used in Tuzex where people could purchase foreign, mainly western luxury goods). The local Tuzex was offering such scarce commodities and oddities such as ‘Céčka’ (a plastic toy from Czechoslovakia popular in the 70s and 80s, formerly used as a parts of door hangings).
There was a demonstration on Národní
Národní třída became a party place whereas some may still remember how in communist times people had to struggle when they wanted to get hold of the mundane necessities of life like bananas or toilet paper. Fatefully, it was also here, by the National Theatre, that extremists from the Worker’s Party held their unauthorised meeting. In the end, their demonstration was officially dispersed by the police. “Prague City Council dispersed an unlawful assembly of Worker’s Party held by the National Theatre. Already beforehand we had asked the Worker’s Party not to hold the meeting at the location because another meeting was planned for the place,” said the city hall spokesman Jiří Wolf. The Worker’s Party was confronted by students who reminded all that 17th November is also a day of fighting against racism and promoting peace and commemorated Filip Venclík, who was harshly beaten to death by Nationalists in September 1993. The demonstration of right-wing extremists disturbed the smooth running of the demonstration and the programme was therefore slightly delayed.
Nevertheless, this year, the celebration on Národní třída carried on with the memorable concert 20 Years without the Curtain and so it all worked out smoothly in the end.
