CIA • 1989

NID: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: REGIME INCREASINGLY FEARFUL

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826763 � CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Regime Increasingly Fearful Czechoslovak hardliners, showing signs of panic, plan to crack down hard on demonstrations held tomorrow and Monday to mark the anniversary of the Soviet invasion in 1968. Comment: Evidently alarmed by the events unfolding in Poland and Hungary, the leadership has decided it must suppress these protests to show the party rank and file and the population that it is determined to stay in power. A massive show of force and violent suppression of peaceful rallies might spark widespread protests in factories besides in the streets...