VHS cassette No. 144 from the Original Videojournal collection contains recordings of two significant Czechoslovak demonstrations from the turn of 1988/1989. The first, only a few minutes long, was filmed on 10 December 1988 during a demonstration of the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was one of the very few protest rallies that had been authorized by the state. The second recording comes from January 15, 1989, the first day of the so-called Palachiáda, or Palach's week of demonstrations, as twenty years had passed since student Jan Palach had self-immolated. Demonstrations were suppressed by the State Police and the People‘s Militias forces with unprecedented brutality (including water cannons and tear gas, among others) and led to the imprisonment of opposition leaders including Václav Havel.