- Title: Lithuania: Ceremony To Remember Those Killed To End Russian Occupation
- Date: 12th January 1991
- Summary: Ten years after staring down tanks to regain their independence from the Soviet Union, Lithuanians laid flowers and lit fires in the capital Vilnius on January 12, 2001 in memory of those killed struggling to end the 50-year occupation. Pieces of concrete barricades still stand outside the Lithuanian parliament as grim reminders of the country's struggle to regain independence. President Valdas Adamkus and independence leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who as chairman of parliament was de facto head of state when Lithuania declared independence from Russia, attended the ceremony to honour independence activists. Independence movements started cautiously in the Baltic States during the late 1980s under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign for more openness to support his economic restructuring. But discussions of reform gave way to demands for sovereignty and culminated on the night of January 12-13, 1991 when thousands took to the streets of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius to defend it against Soviet tank and troops that entered the capital. The attack on the Vilnius TV tower -- and the standoff between the Soviet troops and the Lithuanians which followed -- killed 14 people but failed to topple the pro-independence government and legislature. LANDSBERGIS:ADAMKUS:BRAZAUSKAS:BALTIC STATES
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- Location: LITHUANIA VILNIUS
- Reuters ID: LDL0011SQLHXR
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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- Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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