In pictures: Czechs line Prague streets to mourn Vaclav Havel

Czechs pay final respects to Vaclav Havel

Thousands line the streets of Prague at start of three days of mourning for the former president and dissident playwright who led the Czech Republic and Slovakia out of communism.

Vaclav Havel: a rare man who crossed the great divide

Mon 19 Dec, AT 13:20 Michael Bywater

A writer tries to say what he means while a politician tries to say what people want to hear

Tributes for playwright president Vaclav Havel, 1936 – 2011

First Post Mon 19 Dec, AT 09:00

The dissident writer who led the Czech Republic out of communism has died after years of ill-health

The Prague invasion remembered

Deja Vu Thu 21 Aug, AT 17:50

Czech artists, politicians and journalists recall August 21, 1968 – the day the Russians sent in the tanks to crush the Czechs’ bid for social reform

The Prague Spring, 40 years on

On August 20 1968, Soviet tanks invaded Czechoslovakia to bring an end to President Dubcek's liberalising reforms