1989: the Velvet Revolution in context (or how ‘November’ began in ‘January’)

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.