In order to perpetuate the memory of the Baltic Road, which took place more than 30 years ago, Lithuania intends to give the name of the Baltic Road to the main roads of the country along which the chain of people stretched.
According to Deputy Minister of Transport Vladislavas Kondratovičius, the Seimas Commission on Freedom Struggles and State Historical Memory proposed commemorating the Baltic Road in this way, and the Ministry of Transport supports it.
"We want to commemorate such an event and those road sections where people lined up more than thirty years ago, named the Baltic Road," V. Kondratović told BNS.
According to him, the decision on this will have to be taken by the Government, and a similar proposal regarding the perpetuation of the Baltic Way will be submitted to Latvia and Estonia.
"Through the Baltic Roads Association, which includes Latvija and Estonia, we will offer to contribute to this initiative and to perpetuate the Baltic Way in our countries in a similar way", said the vice-minister.
It is proposed to give the name Baltic road to the highway from Vilnius to Panevėžys, as well as to the section of the Panevėžys–Pasvalys–Riga road to the Latvian border.
On August 1989, 23, more than a million people joined hands in a live chain from Vilnius to Tallinn in the Baltic Road action. This action sent a message to the world about the desire of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to end the Soviet occupation and restore independence.
The Baltic Way has become a symbol of successful nonviolent resistance. In 2004, they took to the live circuit to protest China's military threats Taiwan residents, and in 2013 such an action was repeated by the Catalans seeking to separate from Spain. Last year, thousands of people formed a 40-kilometer-long live chain in Hong Kong, where local residents are protesting Chinese interference.
Author Šarūnas Sabaitis
