Daniel Kříž

“Groups were formed that were to travel outside of Prague and provide information about what had happened and what was happening, because the television was controlled by the regime, and the news reports were not objective... Each group usually had someone who had actually been in National Avenue, plus another student, and plus some well-known actor, who was to help gain attention. Naďa Konvalinková was assigned to my group - she was very outgoing and helped us a lot. Especially in the situation when we came to Příbram to inform miners at Háje mine shaft. They had just come topside and were tired, and didn’t look like they were in the mood to listen to someone from Prague. Naďa Konvalinková was small and wanted to be more visible, so she climbed up on to this small knob of dirt that was by the car park. It had just snowed - she slipped, fell down, her feet shot into the air, and she started to roar with laughter. That broke the ice. They saw a familiar face, a woman they knew from the telly, laughing, and that helped ease up the atmosphere. They then heard us out without much trouble.”

“I remember how the crowd crushed me against a parked car. Luckily, someone jumped on to the car and gave me a hand up. The situation was stressful and unpleasant. Riot-squad police in white helmets were advancing against us. I was close to the front, so I saw that they were boys perhaps younger than we were. Some of them were nervous, some looked angry. Some behaved aggresively, others less so. I also noticed certain individuals scattered among them, mostly bulky types in red berets. I was later told they were paratroopers. They behaved much more viciously than the emergency squad because they’d single out people from the crowd. Those were often people who were recording or taking pictures, who were dealt with very roughly and dragged off somewhere. When the situation became unbearable, people were screaming because there wasn’t even enough room to breathe, they opened up a passage through the arcade, which is walled up now - where the little memorial used to be. They let all of the demonstrators out through there. They ran through, policemen standing on both sides smashing almost everyone on the head with their batons. It was bad luck for anyone who fell. I was lucky enough to get through, so I ducked down the first side street and practically survived without any serious damage. But my friend who was there with me tripped up, and they beat him real bad on the ground so he couldn’t even move for two days.”