On Saturday, April 20, 1996, at the occasion of a three-day official visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister in the Czech Republic, there was held at 4 p.m. a demonstration against human rights violations in China and Tibet in front of the Czech Foreign Ministry in Prague. About 70 people took part in this action which was preceded by a declaration of a number of nongovernmental organizations urging the Czech authorities to point out the human rights violations in China and Tibet in the negotiations with the Chinese Minister. These initiatives were organized by Transnational Radical Party and Movement for Civil Solidarity and Tolerance (HOST).

During the demonstration the Radical activists informed the journalists about the forthcoming demonstration on Monday, April 22, in front of the Foreign Ministries in Brussels, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Kiev and the audience in Budapest. They underlined also the fact that the European Parliament had just approved the resolution requesting the member states of the Union to assert effectively the policy condemning the human rights violations in China and Tibet.

The demonstration received very good coverage in the media. All three TV channels included it among the major events of the day, with extensive commentaries, interviews with participants etc., including the informations given by the Radicals.

The press informs today about the visit of the Chinese Minister, followed by a short report form the Saturday s demonstration (the main daily newspapers actually illustrated the visit with photos from the demo bring also a snap from it). The organizers are not named nor cited there. However, the articles about the visit of the Chinese Minister are solely about the attitude of the Czech officials to the problem of human rights violation in China and Tibet. The statement of the Czech Foreign Minister: "The disscussion on the human rights is an integral part of our tradition and therefore a part of our foreign policy, but on the other hand we know that an intensive relationship is neccessary for such a dialog." At the same time the Czech Foreign Minister assured his Chinese colleague that the Czech Republic is still respecting the undivisible China, i.e., including Tibet and Tai-wan. The Czech Prime Minister Klaus said that the Czech Republic is really interested to

maintain the best relationship with China, based mainly on the economy.

Czech Prezident Havel, who is scheduled to meet the Chinese Minister today, said that he will openly say several things which will not be pleasant for the Chinese Minister to hear.

Also mentioned in several media, from daily newspapers to NOVA Television (the most popular channel) was the fact that

some of the participants of the Saturday s demonstration went later to the Prague Airport to "welcome" the Chinese Minister on his arrival. As the Minister stepped down from the plane, two activists masquerading as journalists suddenly unrolled a huge Tibetan flag. After several minutes of confusion, involving security guards, the Minister was driven away in his car directly to the Chinese embassy, thus missing the official reception at the airport.

A similar situation occurred yesterday in Prerov, where Czech Prime Minister Klaus met the Chinese Foreign Minister. Five activists entered the hotel in which the meeting was held and both at the arrival and the departure of the Minister the Chinese delegation had to walk between Tibetan flags and a banner saying "Freedom for political prisoners - freedom for Wei Jingsheng". At the departure, the demonstrators stood some 5 minutes side by side with the Czech Prime Minister and the Chinese delegation.