Sejm marks 50th Prague Spring pacification anniversary

The Polish Sejm on Tuesday marked the 50th anniversary of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces to halt reforms introduced by the country's then leader Alexander Dubcek. The invasion took place on the night of August 20-21, 1968 by troops from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary and Poland. The move was a response to the so-called Prague Spring, a series of liberal reforms introduced by Dubcek, Czechoslovakia's leader from January 1968 to April 1969 as head of the country's communist party. Over a hundred people died and around 800 were injured during the invasion.