The Baltic Way (; ; ) or Baltic Chain (also "Chain of Freedom") was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a
human chain spanning across the three
Baltic states
The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
of
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
,
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
and
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
, which at the time were
occupied and annexed by the USSR and had a combined population of approximately eight million. The central government in Moscow considered the three Baltic countries
constituent republics of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
The demonstration originated in "
Black Ribbon Day" protests held in the western cities in the 1980s. It marked the 50th anniversary of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in which Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania were (as "
spheres of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity.
While there may be a formal a ...
") divided between the Soviet Union and
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. The Soviet-Nazi pact led to the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in September 1939 and the
Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic countries in June 1940.
The 1989 event was organised by the Baltic pro-independence movements: ''
Rahvarinne
The Popular Front of Estonia (; RR), introduced to the public by the Estonian politician Edgar Savisaar under the short-lived name Popular Front for the Support of Perestroika, was a political organisation in Estonia in the late 1980s and earl ...
'' of Estonia, the ''
Tautas fronte'' of Latvia, and ''
Sąjūdis'' of Lithuania, to draw global attention by demonstrating a popular desire for independence and showcasing solidarity among the three nations. It has been described as an effective publicity campaign, and an emotionally captivating and visually stunning scene.
The event presented an opportunity for the Baltic activists to publicise the Soviet rule and position the question of Baltic independence not only as a political matter, but also as a moral issue. The Soviet authorities responded to the event with intense rhetoric,
but failed to take any constructive actions that could bridge the widening gap between the Baltic republics and the rest of the Soviet Union. Seven months after the protest Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence.

After the
Revolutions of 1989
The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts ...
, 23 August has become an official remembrance day both in the Baltic countries, in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
and in other countries, known as the Black Ribbon Day or as the
European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.
Background
Baltic stance
The Soviet Union denied the existence of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocols which had ceded control of the Baltic states to the USSR, even though the protocol texts had been used as evidence during the
Nuremberg Trials and had been published worldwide by Western scholars.
Soviet propaganda also maintained that there was no occupation and that all three Baltic states had voluntarily joined the Union – the
People's Parliaments had expressed people's will when they petitioned the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to be admitted into the Union.
The Baltic states claimed that they were forcefully and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union. Popular opinion was that the secret protocols proved that the occupation was illegal.
Such an interpretation of the Pact had major implications for the Baltics' public policy. If Baltic diplomats could link the Pact and the occupation, they could claim that the Soviet rule in the republics had no legal basis and therefore all Soviet laws had been
null and void since 1940.
Such a position would automatically terminate the debate over reforming Baltic sovereignty or establishing autonomy within the Soviet Union – the states would have never belonged ''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...
'' to the union in the first place. This would open the possibility of restoring legal continuity of the independent states that had existed during the interwar period. Claiming that no Soviet laws had legal power in the Baltics would also cancel the need to follow the
Constitution of the Soviet Union and other formal secession procedures.
In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, tensions were rising between the Baltics and Moscow. Lithuanian politician
Romualdas Ozolas initiated a collection of 2 million signatures to demand withdrawal of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
from Lithuania. The
Communist Party of Lithuania was deliberating the possibility of splitting off from the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
. On 8 August 1989, Estonians attempted to amend election laws to limit voting rights of new immigrants (mostly Russian workers).
This provoked mass strikes and protests by Russian workers. Moscow gained an opportunity to present the events as an "inter-ethnic conflict" – it could then position itself as "peacemaker" restoring order in a troubled republic.
The rising tensions in anticipation of the protest spurred hopes that Moscow would react by announcing constructive reforms to address the demands of the Baltic people. At the same time fears grew of violent clampdown.
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...
from
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
and
Nicolae Ceaușescu from
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
offered the Soviet Union military assistance in case it decided to use force and break up the demonstration.
Soviet response
On 15 August 1989, in response to worker strikes in Estonia, ''
Pravda'', the official daily newspaper of the Soviet Union, published sharp criticism of "hysteria" driven by "extremist elements" pursuing selfish "narrow nationalist positions" against the greater benefit of the entire Soviet Union.
On 17 August, the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union published a project of new policy regarding the union republics in ''Pravda''. However, this project offered few new ideas: it preserved Moscow's leadership not only in foreign policy and defense, but also in economy, science, and culture. The project made a few cautious concessions: it proposed the republics have the right to challenge national laws in a court (at the time all three Baltic states had amended their constitutions giving their
Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...
s the right to veto national laws)
and the right to promote their national languages to the level of the official state language (at the same time the project emphasised the leading role of the Russian language). The project also included laws banning "nationalist and chauvinist organisations", which could be used to persecute pro-independence groups in the Baltics,
and a proposal to replace the
Treaty on the Creation of the USSR of 1922 with a new unifying agreement, which would be part of the Soviet constitution.
On 18 August, ''Pravda'' published an extensive interview with
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev,
chairman of a 26-member commission set up by the
Congress of People's Deputies to investigate the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocols.
During the interview, Yakovlev admitted that the secret protocols were genuine. He condemned the protocols, but maintained that they had no impact on the incorporation of the Baltic states. Thus Moscow reversed its long-standing position that the secret protocols did not exist or were forgeries, but did not concede that events of 1940 constituted an occupation. It was clearly not enough to satisfy the Baltics and on 22 August, a commission of the
Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR announced that the occupation in 1940 was a direct result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and therefore illegal. It was the first time that an official Soviet body challenged the legitimacy of the Soviet rule.
Protest
Preparation
In the light of ''
glasnost'' and ''
perestroika
''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
'', street demonstrations had been increasingly growing in popularity and support. On 23 August 1986, Black Ribbon Day demonstrations were held in 21 western cities including
New York,
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, and
Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
to bring worldwide attention to human rights violations by the Soviet Union. In 1987, Black Ribbon Day protests were held in 36 cities including
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, Lithuania. Protests against the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact were also held in Tallinn and Riga in 1987. In 1988, for the first time, such protests were sanctioned by the Soviet authorities and did not end in arrests.
The activists planned an especially large protest for the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1989. It is unclear when and by whom the idea of a human chain was advanced. It appears that the idea was proposed during a trilateral meeting in
Pärnu on 15 July. An official agreement between the Baltic activists was signed in
Cēsis
Cēsis (; (, , , ) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was selected to b ...
on 12 August. Local Communist Party authorities approved the protest.
At the same time several different petitions, denouncing Soviet occupation, were gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures.
[
The organisers mapped out the chain, designating specific locations to specific cities and towns to make sure that the chain would be uninterrupted. Free bus rides were provided for those who did not have other transportation.] Preparations spread across the country, energising the previously uninvolved rural population.[ Some employers did not allow workers to take the day off from work (23 August fell on a Wednesday), while others sponsored the bus rides.][ On the day of the event, special radio broadcasts helped to coordinate the effort.][ Estonia declared a public holiday.][
The Baltic pro-independence movements issued a joint declaration to the world and European community in the name of the protest. The declaration condemned the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, calling it a criminal act, and urged declaration that the pact was "null and void from the moment of signing".] The declaration said that the question of the Baltics was a "problem of inalienable human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
" and accused the European community of "double standards" and turning a blind eye to the "last colonies of Hitler–Stalin era".[ On the day of the protest, '' Pravda'' published an editorial titled "Only the Facts". It was a collection of quotes from pro-independence activists intended to show the unacceptable anti-Soviet nature of their work.
File:Coverage diagram of the Baltic Way.jpeg, Diagram assigning each city and town a stretch of the road to cover
File:Portable radio and badge for the Baltic unity from 1989, Latvia.JPG, People carried portable radios to coordinate the efforts and badges to show unity of the three states
File:Traffic during the Baltic Way.jpeg, Traffic jam on the A2 highway
]
Human chain
The chain connected the three Baltic capitals – Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
, and Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
. It ran from Vilnius along the A2 highway through Širvintos and Ukmergė to Panevėžys, then along the Via Baltica through Pasvalys to Bauska in Latvia and through Iecava and Ķekava to Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
( Bauska highway, Ziepniekkalna street, Mūkusalas street, Stone bridge, Kaļķu street, Brīvības street) and then along road A2, through Vangaži, Sigulda, Līgatne, Mūrnieki and Drabeši, to Cēsis
Cēsis (; (, , , ) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was selected to b ...
, from there, through Lode, to Valmiera and then through Jēči, Lizdēni, , Oleri, Rūjiena and Ķoņi to Estonian town Karksi-Nuia and from there through Viljandi
Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...
, Türi and Rapla to Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
. The demonstrators peacefully linked hands for 15 minutes at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).[ Later, a number of local gatherings and protests took place. In Vilnius, about 5,000 people gathered in the Cathedral Square, holding candles and singing national songs, including '']Tautiška giesmė
"" (; 'National Song') or "" ('Anthem of Lithuania'), also known by its incipit "" ('Lithuania, Our Homeland'), is the national anthem of Lithuania. The music and lyrics were written in 1898 by Vincas Kudirka, when Lithuania was still part of th ...
''.[ Elsewhere, priests held masses or rang church bells. Leaders of the Estonian and Latvian Popular Fronts gathered on the border between their two republics for a symbolic funeral ceremony, in which a giant black cross was set alight.] The protesters held candles and pre-war national flags decorated with black ribbons in memory of the victims of the Soviet terror: Forest Brothers, deportees to Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, political prisoners, and other "enemies of the people
The terms enemy of the people and enemy of the nation are designations for the political opponents and the social-class opponents of the power group within a larger social unit, who, thus identified, can be subjected to political repression. ...
".[
In Moscow's Pushkin Square, ranks of special riot police were employed when a few hundred people tried to stage a sympathy demonstration. TASS said 75 were detained for breaches of the peace, petty vandalism, and other offences.][ About 13,000 demonstrated in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic which was also affected by the secret protocol.][ A demonstration was held by the Baltic ]émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Hugueno ...
and German sympathizers in front of the Soviet embassy in Bonn
Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
, then West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
.
Most estimates of the number of participants vary between one and two million. Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
News reported the following day that about 700,000 Estonians and 1,000,000 Lithuanians joined the protests. The Latvian Popular Front estimated an attendance of 400,000. Prior to the event, the organisers expected an attendance of 1,500,000 out of the about 8,000,000 inhabitants of the three states.[ Such expectations predicted 25–30% turnout among the native population.] According to the official Soviet numbers, provided by TASS, there were 300,000 participants in Estonia and nearly 500,000 in Lithuania. To make the chain physically possible, an attendance of approximately 200,000 people was required in each state. Video footage taken from airplanes and helicopters showed an almost continuous line of people across the countryside.
File:Balti kett 22.jpg, In Estonia
File:Baltic Way in Latvia near Krekava.jpeg, In Latvia
File:1989 08 23 Baltijoskelias14.jpg, In Lithuania
Immediate aftermath
On 26 August 1989, a pronouncement from the Central Committee of the Communist Party was read during the opening 19 minutes of ''Vremya
''Vremya'' (, lit. "Time") is the main evening newscast in Russia, airing on Channel One Russia (Russian: , Pervy kanal) and previously on Programme One of the Central Television of the USSR (CT USSR, Russian: ). The programme has been on th ...
'', the main evening news program on Soviet television. It was a sternly worded warning about growing "nationalist, extremist groups" which advanced "anti-socialist and anti-Soviet" agendas. The announcement claimed that these groups discriminated against ethnic minorities and terrorised those still loyal to Soviet ideals.[ Local authorities were openly criticised for their failure to stop these activists. The Baltic Way was referred to as a "nationalist hysteria". According to the pronouncement, such developments would lead to an "abyss" and "catastrophic" consequences.] The workers and peasants were called on to save the situation and defend Soviet ideals. Overall, there were mixed messages: while indirectly threatening the use of force, it also placed hopes that the conflict could be solved via diplomatic means. It was interpreted that the Central Committee had not yet decided which way to go and had left both possibilities open. The call to pro-Soviet masses illustrated that Moscow believed it still had a significant audience in the Baltics. Sharp criticism of Baltic Communist Parties was interpreted as signalling that Moscow would attempt to replace their leadership. However, almost immediately after the broadcast, the tone in Moscow began to soften and the Soviet authorities failed to follow up on any of their threats. Eventually, according to historian Alfred Erich Senn, the pronouncement became a source of embarrassment.
President of the United States George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
and chancellor of West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...
urged peaceful reforms and criticised the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. On 31 August, the Baltic activists issued a joint declaration to Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Secretary-General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
. They claimed to be under threat of aggression and asked for an international commission to be sent to monitor the situation. On 19–20 September, the Central Committee of the Communist Party convened to discuss the nationality question – something Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
had been postponing since early 1988. The plenum did not specifically address the situation in the Baltic states and reaffirmed old principles regarding the centralised Soviet Union and the dominant role of the Russian language
Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
. It did promise some increase in autonomy, but was contradictory and failed to address the underlying reasons for the conflict.
Evaluation
The human chain helped to publicise the Baltic cause around the world and symbolised solidarity among the Baltic peoples. The positive image of the non-violent Singing Revolution spread among the western media. The activists, including Vytautas Landsbergis, used the increased exposure to position the debate over Baltic independence as a moral, and not just political question: reclaiming independence would be restoration of historical justice and liquidation of Stalinism. It was an emotional event, strengthening the determination to seek independence. The protest highlighted that the pro-independence movements, established just a year before, became more assertive and radical: they shifted from demanding greater freedom from Moscow to full independence.[
In December 1989, the Congress of People's Deputies accepted and ]Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
signed the report by Yakovlev's commission condemning the secret protocols of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In February 1990, the first free democratic elections to the Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...
s took place in all three Baltic states and pro-independence candidates won majorities. On 11 March 1990, within seven months of the Baltic Way, Lithuania became the first Soviet state to declare independence. The independence of all three Baltic states was recognised by most western countries by the end of 1991.
This protest was one of the earliest and longest unbroken human chains in history. Similar human chains were later organised in many East European countries and regions of the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and, more recently, in Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
( 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally) and Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
( Catalan Way). On the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way, a human chain called the Hong Kong Way was formed during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. On August 23, 2020, the Baltic states did a reenactment including Belarus for Belarusian activists. Documents recording the Baltic Way were added to UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
's Memory of the World Register in 2009 in recognition of their value in documenting history.
See also
* The Baltics Are Waking Up
* Hands Across America (1986)
* Tiananmen Square protest (1989)
* Pan-European Picnic in Hungary (1989)
* 71st anniversary of Ukrainian unification (1990)
* 228 Hand-in-Hand rally in Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
(2004)
* Catalan Way (2013)
* Hong Kong Way (2019)
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
External links
Summary by the three countries' National Commissions for UNESCO
Full-text of joint Baltic declaration to the world
Footage of the Baltic Way
with soundtrack of the Lithuanian independence song ''Pabudome ir kelkimės''
Documentary ''Baltijos kelias''
by the Lithuanian Television
Photo album
a virtual gallery hosted by the Government of Lithuania
{{Authority control
1989 protests
History of the Baltic states
1989 in the Soviet Union
1989 in Estonia
1989 in Latvia
1989 in Lithuania
August 1989 in Europe
Singing Revolution
Memory of the World Register
1989 in international relations
Protests in the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Revolutions of 1989
Human chains (politics)
Anti-communism
Restoration of the independence of the Baltic states