200720th Anniversary Of The Hirvepark Demonstration - Set

In August 1987, the Estonian fight for freedom had advanced to the stage where it was possible to gather under political slogans. For the first time a meeting was held without the restricting framework of Soviet propaganda. The demonstration at Hirvepark broke the dam, so to say, and allowed the events leading to the restoration of Estonia’s independence to take their course. The legal grounds for the Estonian pursuit of independence were established at Hirvepark. The people gathered there demanded that the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on the basis of which Estonia had been occupied by Soviet forces in 1940, be made public and annulled. The Estonian society thus took a courageous and necessary step towards regaining its independence. The Hirvepark demonstration was a product of uncompromising civil courage and rejuvenated the national spirit, leading the way towards not only political independence but also freedom of the mind.