In Prague, 30 years later, another velvet is in fashion. Young people in the streets against the premier

The wind of freedom that had blown against the Berlin Wall until it collapsed came to Prague eight days later, on November 17, 1989, when an unauthorized student protest began the end of Soviet power. Yesterday, exactly thirty years later, 300,000 young Czechs marched to celebrate the anniversary of the end of that regime and request the resignation of their premier, tycoon Andrej Babis. Yesterday against the communist system and the Warsaw Pact troops, today against the mixture of interests, fraud and corruption that reigns unpunished in the Czech Republic. Happy birthday, velvet revolution.

The overwhelming echo of history has resounded in the same place: the Letna park, where thousands have waved the tricolor patrio and the golden stars of the European flag. The boys of 1989 have become black and white photos in the fingers of those of today: they shake them to celebrate the spirit of those days of three decades ago because "we have democracy today, but it is in danger" said Benjamin Roll , milky-colored leather, blue eyes, large black cowboy hat from the east. He is one of the three very young founding students of "A million moments for democracy", a movement that has organized the protests that have taken place over the last few months, the most massive ever seen since 1989. "For freedom we don't end never to fight, the actions of Babis are dangerous for democracy ", said Roll.

Billionaire, populist, secret agent. Babis, born in Bratislava in 1954, was an eastern spy yesterday and is a media mogul today. With over three billion dollars in assets, it has newspapers, radio, TV and Agrofert, a food giant with over 200 satellite companies. He leads the Czech Republic almost always saying no, but he became premier in December 2017 with an "Ano", which in Czech means "yes" and is the name of his party, an anagram of three words: "unhappy citizens' union".

Hunted by investigations into conflicts of interest and corruption, before becoming the most powerful man in Prague, he was dismissed from the office of finance minister for abuse of European funds. Over 430,000 people in the last few months have signed a petition asking for their resignation.

Babis or "Trump of the East", as the Slavic press often baptizes, forgetting the first nickname he had given him, a distortion of the surname of the former Italian prime minister: "Babisconi". Babis or "Bures": its code name as a spy. Unlike Russian President Putin, who has found the keystone of his rise to power in the past between the ranks of the secret services, Babis, son of the communist nomenklatura, today covers his collaboration with the STB, the Czechoslovak secret police. For many Czechs, victims of that repressive regime, this is a painful and unfair memory. "We are still dealing with the communist legacy," Roll repeated.

Despite the swirling growing economy of recent years for cascading investments poured into Prague and all over the eastern hemisphere from Brussels, nostalgia for that socialist udder that provided for everything survives and 36% of Czechs over 40 still do not have a positive opinion on what happened in 1989. The figures of the last poll put into circulation by the Slavic media, which investigate the affection of citizens to the new bloc of which they belong, the European Union say.

In Prague as in Bratislava, the transfer of baton from one youth to another was not lacking. The sister cities, – first part of a single State of the Eastern bloc, today Capitals of two NATO member countries -, will both celebrate the thirty years since the fall of that iron curtain that was the curtain.

Twin for trajectory and claims to the movement of young Czechs, in 2018 the group “For a decent Slovakia” was born across the border, following the civil indignation generated by the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend. Following the assassination of the reporter who investigated the links between members of the government and the Calabrian Ndrangheta, street demonstrations began in 2018 which forced Prime Minister Robert Fico to resign, who before calling off the occupied seat for two terms, loved to call journalists "dirty prostitutes".

Where history has been consumed once, it burns again. In Prague for the whole day today, the gray images of the indelible November 17, 1989 will continue to flow on the screens: crowded Wenceslas Square, the loose sun, freedom, often pronounced by the youth of that time who alternated courageously and proudly with microphones. Among them there was an economist who now defines the protests of the 2019 boys "non-democratic", irrelevant request for "a small percentage". This man who now often turns the needle of his compass to Moscow, towards that Kremlin against which his generation fought, is called Milos Zeman and since 2013 he has been president of the Czech Republic.