The Czechoslovak Hockey Riots were a short lived series of protests, mildly violent on occasion (several people were injured), that took place in response to the

1969 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1969 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 36th edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships, which also doubled as the 47th European ice hockey championships. For the first time the Pool A, B and C tournaments were hosted by different natio ...

. After the Soviet invasion into Czechoslovakia the political ideals of the Prague Spring were slowly but steadily replaced by politics of accommodation to the demands of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. People in Czechoslovakia, unable to find other ways to express their opinion, reacted with few very visible but ultimately ineffective manifestations of disagreement. On March 21 and 28, 1969, the

Czechoslovakia national ice hockey team The Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team was the national ice hockey team of Czechoslovakia, and competed from 1920 until 1992. The successor to the Bohemia national ice hockey team, which ...

beat the Soviet team in the

in Stockholm. Throughout

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, possibly 500,000 fans crowded the streets of their cities to celebrate the wins. In some places, particularly

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, the celebrations turned to protests against the

Soviet military The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

who continued to occupy the country after the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

invasion the previous August. The first night the celebrating fans vocally started showing their displeasure with the military oversight cheering and chanting "No tanks were there so they lost!". The next night many of the protesters had brought signs they created showing the score of the second game (4-3), and chants stating "Czechoslovakia 4 – Occupation forces 3!". While the majority of these demonstrations were peaceful, some turned violent as protesters attacked Soviet military units. In Prague, protesters ransacked the Soviet Aeroflot office on the

Wenceslas Square Wenceslas Square ( Czech: , colloquially ''Václavák'' ) is one of the main city squares and the centre of the business and cultural communities in the New Town of Prague, Czech Republic. Many historical events occurred there, and it is a tra ...

, though some have suggested they were encouraged by State Security agents. The protests were suppressed by the Czechoslovak military and police, now under full control of the hardliners from the Communist Party. The events were used as a pretext to oust the remaining leaders of the Prague Spring. Among them,

Alexander Dubček Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czechoslovak ...

was forced to resign as First Secretary of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

, to be replaced by

Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák (, , ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak communist politician of Slovak origin, who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the president o ...

who started the politics of " normalisation". During the years of normalization, citizens of Czechoslovakia saw hockey games against Soviet Union as a quiet, symbolic way to protest. Police forces were regularly set on alert but never used.

Notes

{{reflist Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Sports riots Riots and civil disorder in Czechoslovakia 1969 riots Hockey Riots Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations Ice hockey in Czechoslovakia History of ice hockey 1969–70 in Soviet ice hockey 1969–70 in European ice hockey Politics and sports