Prague
A young man doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square last week, in a gruesome suicide that copied a famous Cold War protest. In 1969, 22-year-old Jan Palach killed himself in that way and on that site to protest the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. But last week’s self-immolation, by 19-year-old Zdenek Adamec, appeared to be motivated more by personal depression. “I am another victim of the so-called democratic system, where not the people decide, but money and power,” Adamec said in a note left at the scene. “All my life I encountered problems I was unable to cope with. I cannot go on.” Horrified passersby threw their coats over the burning boy to smother the flames, but he died at the scene.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The marvelous powers of mucusThe Explainer It's snot just a pesky cold symptom
-
What to know about the 'no tax on tips' policyThe Explainer The new bill would make tip income exempt from federal income taxes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
