Hundreds of people celebrated the upcoming 29th anniversary of Defenders of Freedom Day at the Seimas on Sunday.
January 13th is celebrated in Lithuania as Defenders of Freedom Day, in honor of those who died on January 1991th, 13 during the actions of the Soviet army in Vilnius.
Commemorative bonfires were lit on Sunday evening in the Independence Square next to the parliament. Bonfires also burned near the television tower and near the Lithuanian National Radio and Television building.
"January 13th means a lot to me - national unity, memory, freedom. It means fighting for your freedom, because every freedom requires preparation and a fight for it," 28-year-old photographer Simonas Linkevičius told BNS.
People near the Seimas watched documentary excerpts of the restoration of Lithuania's independence, including images from the hospital where people injured during the Soviet military assaults were taken.
"This is a Lithuanian holiday, a day of remembrance. 29 years ago, we lived in Šiauliai, we were near the municipality, we calmed the children left at home", former engineers, Renė and Bronislovas, who currently live in Vilnius, told BNS.
Some people came to the commemoration at the Seimas wearing a forget-me-not ring, a symbol that has become popular in recent years to remember the 14th people who died when Soviet military units stormed the Vilnius TV tower and the Radio and Television Committee building on the night of January 13. Then more than a thousand defenseless people were injured.
Although the Soviet soldiers managed to occupy the Television Tower and the Lithuanian Radio and Television building, they did not dare to attack the building of the then Supreme Council-Restorative Seimas, guarded by thousands of people.
"I am here first of all to pay tribute to those who died, for the fact that they won our freedom at the cost of their lives. This is a celebration, a day of unity, so that we don't forget who we are, that the strength of a nation is in unity. We must not forget such holidays, people and be united," lawyer Andrius told BNS.
Lithuania declared its independence from the USSR on March 1990, 11.
Author Šarūnas Sabaitis
