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On Sunday, across the country, Czech politicians and the wider public marked the 30 year anniversary since the brutal crackdown by police on protesters passing through Národní třída in Prague sparked the beginning of the end of communism through the Velvet Revolution.

Leading politicians, including the prime minister, laid down wreaths at the revolution memorial on Národní on Sunday morning. In Prague, the largest celebrations took place in the centre around Národní street and Wenceslas Square, but special programs also took place in other cities and in many of the country's leading arts institutions such as the National Museum and the National Gallery.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš laid down flowers at the Velvet Revolution memorial on Prague's Národní třída on Sunday morning. The act was acompanied by loud whistling and verbal disagreement from onlookers. Flowers have also been laid down by other leading politicians including Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib and Social Democrat leader Jan Hamáček.

The move by the prime minister was not expected. Earlier in the week he had announced that he would give his speech related to the anniversary at the opening of a special exhibition at the National Museum. His public tributes to anniversaries connected with resistance to Communist rule have been repeatedly met with scorn from onlookers in the past years, who highlight the fact that he had been listed as an agent of the Secret Police in Slovak archives.

Thirty years ago Czechs took to the streets to demonstrate for freedom and democracy, for the chance to speak their mind without reprisals, to vote in free elections and shape their own future. Today they are taking stock of the country’s successes and failures, of how far they have come along the road to a liberal democracy and market economy and whether the ideals of 1989 are still alive in people’s hearts and minds.

The date is November 17, 1989, eight days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. A cordon of Czechoslovak riot police blocks the path of thousands of university students staging a march through Prague, calling for democracy – and freedom. As police truncheons begin to rain down on their heads, they chant “We have bare hands” – we are unarmed. Hundreds are bruised and bloodied; one student reportedly dead. The Velvet Revolution, as it came to be known, had begun.

Thirty years ago the communist regime in Czechoslovakia started to fall apart. The main demonstrations and events were taking place in Prague. But the key question was whether the regions would join in and support the not so numerous college students and actors in the capital who were calling for a protest strike. Vít Pohanka witnessed how the Velvet Revolution started in the Moravian city of Olomouc:

The 30-year anniversary of the Velvet Revolution culminates this Sunday, November 17. Aside from official state tributes, a wide range of commemorative events, including concerts, processions and debates, will be taking place in cities across the Czech Republic during the whole weekend. Meanwhile, opponents of the government are planning a massive demonstration in Prague.

As the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution approaches, we take you to places that are closely associated with the events that led to the collapse of the communist regime in 1989. In the fifth and last episode of our mini-series, we’ll take you to Prague Castle where Czechoslovakia’s first post-communist president, Václav Havel, was sworn in, starting a new era in the country’s history.

As the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution approaches, we take you to places that are closely associated with the events that led to the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989. In the fourth episode of our mini-series, we visit the former Czechoslovak Federal Assembly building, where some key political changes took place 30 years ago.

As the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution draws near, we take you to places that are closely associated with the events that led to the collapse of the Communist regime 30 years ago. In the third episode of our mini-series, we visit Wenceslas Square and Letná plain, the scene of spontaneous demonstrations, which followed the brutal police crackdown on an unarmed student demonstration on November 17, 1989.

In a remarkable work of oral history, four students with the help of former dissident and award winning author Aleš Palán have produced a 270 page history of the events that took place in Prague on November 17, 1989. One of them is Alžběta Ambrožová, a 26 year old graduate of English and American Studies. She says that around 300 testimonies were collected through a mix of interviews and online questionnaires. I began by asking her about how people felt going into that watershed event in Czech history.