President commemorates Velvet Revolution in Prague

Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová laid a wreath at a memorial to the 1989 Velvet Revolution on National Street street in Prague on Tuesday to commemorate the upcoming 30th anniversary of the fall of communism in then-Czechoslovakia (November 17). "We might not always realise the opportunities presented by November [1989]. One fact is that changes have begun, but haven't been finished. There's still a long way to go to make the democracy fought for in November 1989 really felt by the public in social certainties and in decent lives," said Čaputová, adding that she was a 16-year-old student during the Velvet Revolution. Čaputová said that the public often seems to be taking for granted some of the rights and liberties brought about by the Velvet Revolution, not considering that without proper public engagement, "some things might break loose and democracy could be transformed into an entirely different regime, for example, one resembling the regime before 1989."