Vilnius - TV Tower

In 1990, the Soviet Party Secretary (leader), Mikhail Gorbachev, received the Nobel peace prize for the democratic changes (Perestroika and Glasnost) he had introduced in the Soviet Union. The following year, he ordered Soviet tanks to the TV tower in Vilnius, Lithuania. This to restore the political order when Lithuania wanted to liberate itself from the Soviet Union. On January 11, 1991, Lithuanian citizens occupied the TV tower because television was a symbol of freedom and democracy. Voluntary citizens guarded the TV tower around the clock, but on the night of January 13, Soviet armor was put in to disperse the crowd and recapture the TV tower. The uproar resulted in the death of twelve Lithuanians and another hundreds injured when they got in the way of Soviet armored vehicles. The unarmed Lithuanians, of course, could not resist for a long time. The Soviets regained control of the television tower and remained for 222 days until August 22 when the the Soviet Union collapsed.