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November 17th is the anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution and is a public holiday here in the Czech Republic. Hundreds are expected to take to the streets of Prague on Saturday, to mark the 18th anniversary of the beginning of one of the most important chapters in the country’s history. But others will be turning out in numbers for rather different reasons. Here is a round up of the activities we can expect around the capital on Saturday:

My guest in One on One is Simon Panek. Today he is well known as the director and one of the co-founders of People in Need, one of the Czech Republic's biggest non-governmental organizations. People in Need works around the world to ease the suffering of people in times of crisis - be it war, famine or flood, and has become hugely respected far beyond this country's borders. But Simon Panek first came to the public's attention for a very different reason. It was seventeen years ago this month that he was at the heart of the events that came to

The Czech Republic is marking the anniversaries of the events of November 17th, 1939 and 1989. Seventeen years ago, the Velvet Revolution started in Prague which led to the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989. The events were kicked off by a student march on November 17th, 1989 commemorating the student march of 1939 protesting against the Nazi occupation and the death of medical student Jan Opletal who was killed by the Nazis.

President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek laid flowers on Friday at the memorial to the 1989 student demonstration on Prague's Narodni street. Outgoing Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra, who took part in the march 17 years ago, also laid flowers at the plaque and joined a crowd of people bringing flowers and lighting candles there to discuss about the events of 1989.

On the eve of the anniversary, a memorial plaque was unveiled on Prague's Albertov street where the peaceful demonstration, which kicked off the Velvet Revolution, started on November 17, 1989. The march which turned into a protest demanding democratic reforms was stopped by riot police and many people were injured. The plaque revealed on Thursday bears the words "Who if not us, when if not now" - one of the slogans of the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

The dramatic events of the Velvet Revolution began on the 17th November 1989. A student demonstration was put down brutally by the police, resulting in a huge public outcry. Protests and further demonstrations gained such rapid momentum that within days the regime was doomed, and by the end of the year Vaclav Havel was president. Any Czech over the age of thirty-five will have vivid memories of the time, but in the meantime a generation has grown up for whom these events are no more than history. So how, seventeen years after the fall of communism,

A memorial plaque has been unveiled in Prague's Albertov street where the peaceful demonstration which kicked off the Velvet Revolution started 17 years ago, on November 17, 1989. The student march was organised in memory of Jan Opletal, a medical student killed by the Nazis in 1939. The march which turned into a protest demanding democratic reforms was stopped by riot police and many people were injured. The plaque revealed on Thursday bears the words "Who if not us, when if not now" - one of the slogans of the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

November 17th is a state holiday in the Czech Republic - marking the brutal police crack-down on students which led to the fall of the communist regime in 1989. On the eve of the state holiday the CVVM agency conducted a poll to find out what people know about the anniversary, how they feel about it and whether they will mark it in any special way. The results were somewhat surprising.

Views expressed by politicians and participants of the gatherings in the streets of Prague on Thursday do not necessarily reflect the overall mood in Czech society. The Communist Party is the third strongest party in the Czech Republic, a cause for alarm for some. For his part, the Czech Prime Minister, Jiri Paroubek, has said the Communists are not a threat at all.

Czechs and Slovaks marked the 16th anniversary of the start of the 1989 Velvet Revolution on Thursday, a time when people remember the overthrow of Communist rule and reflect on the changes that have swept society since then. But discontent is growing with the current political situation, and that discontent was reflected in the mood on the streets of Prague. Radio Prague's Rob Cameron has this report.

President Vaclav Klaus as well as the prime minister and other public figures have marked the 16th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. 16 years ago this day an attack by riot police against demonstrating students on Prague's Narodni trida sparked mass protests that led to the fall of Czechoslovakia's communist regime. Speaking with journalists on Thursday President Klaus described November 17th, 1989 as a "key moment in Czech history", saying those who had experienced the events that followed "experienced the birth of freedom".

Accompanied by Prague Lord Mayor Pavel Bem, and Senate chairman Premysl Sobotka, Mr Klaus laid flowers at the site where students on Narodni trida were attacked. A little later in the day the site was also visited by Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek.