Vilnius (Day 2)

I did a lot of walking around the city centre today. Memories on almost every street.

I’ve been left with a tricky choice for a Blip. I’ve gone for a photo of a photo.

One of the places I stopped on my wanderings was a memorial which lies next to the Seimas (parliament) commemorating the victims of the independence struggle in January 1991.

13 died at the TV Tower as Soviet special forces tried to mount a coup against the Lithuanian Government which had declared independence from the Soviet Union. Their tanks surrounded the TV Tower and opened fire on the crowd.

The government called for people to form a human shield around the Seimas to protect it. 20,000 gathered there during the night of 13 January and during the day the numbers swelled to 50,000. They erected barriers around the building too.

It worked. The Soviet forces didn’t attack.

I think I’m right in saying Gorbachev didn’t know about the coup attempt in advance, and learned of it from a Norwegian TV reporter.    

I’ve added a couple of extra shots.

One is of the remnants of the barricades which now form part of the memorial.

The other is part of the front of what was the KGB headquarters in the city. Those shot inside are commemorated (the shot just shows a small section). Many are from the 1945-47 period, just after the country became part of the USSR. Many more were deported to Siberia.