The Velvet Revolution was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, from November 17 to December 29, 1989.
In large part, popular demonstrations against the single-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, were dominated by students and by older, established dissidents.
On Friday, November 17, 1989, riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague that was part of International Students' Day activities. That event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from November 19 to late December.
By November 20, the number of protesters assembled in Prague had grown from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated 500,000.
On November 24, the entire top leadership of the Communist Party, including General Secretary Milos Jakes, resigned.
A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was held on November 27.
With the collapse of other Warsaw Pact governments and increasing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on November 28 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state.
Two days later, the legislature formally deleted the sections of the Constitution giving the Communists a monopoly of power.
Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December.
On December 10, President Gustav Husak appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned.
Alexander Dubcek was elected speaker of the federal parliament on December 28 and Vaclav Havel the President of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989.
In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946.
(source: Wikipedia)
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