In the streets of Prague and in the United Nations headquarters
in New York City, Czechs protest against the Soviet invasion of
their nation. The protests served to highlight the brutality of
the Soviet action and to rally worldwide condemnation of the
Soviet Union. On August 21, 1968, more than 200,000 troops of
the Warsaw Pact crossed into Czechoslovakia in response to
democratic and free market reforms being instituted by Czech
Communist Party General Secretary Alexander Dubcek. Negotiations
between Dubcek and Soviet bloc leaders failed to convince the
Czech leader to back away from his reformist platform. The
military intervention on August 21 indicated that the Soviets
believed that Dubcek was going too far and needed to be
restrained. On August 22, thousands of Czechs gathered in
central Prague to protest the Soviet action and demand the
withdrawal of foreign troops. Although it was designed to be a
peaceful protest, violence often flared and several protesters
were killed on August 22 and in the days t