Editing Velvet Revolution (section)

===21 November===
[[File:Praha 1989, Václavské náměstí, dav.jpg|thumb|People on the Wenceslas Square in Prague]]
[[File:Praha 1989, Václavské náměstí, svatý Vojtěch s transparentem.jpg|thumb|A statue of [[Saint Adalbert of Prague]] with a streamer and banners]]

The first official meeting of the Civic Forum with the Prime Minister took place. The Prime Minister agreed to personally guarantee that no violence would be used against the people; however he would "protect socialism, about which no discussion is possible".<ref name="Glenn"/>  An organised mass demonstration took place in [[Wenceslas Square]] in central Prague (demonstrations recurred there throughout the following days). Actors and students travelled to factories inside and outside Prague to gain support for their colleagues in other cities.

A mass demonstration erupted in [[Hviezdoslavovo námestie (Bratislava)|Hviezdoslav Square]] in downtown Bratislava (in the following days, it moved to the Square of the Slovak National Uprising). The students presented demands and asked the people to participate in the general strike planned for Monday, 27 November. A separate demonstration demanded the release of the political prisoner [[Ján Čarnogurský]] (later Prime Minister of Slovakia) in front of the Palace of Justice. Alexander Dubček addressed this demonstration – his first appearance during the Velvet Revolution. As a result, Čarnogurský was released on 23 November. Further demonstrations followed in all major cities of Czechoslovakia.

[[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[František Tomášek]], the [[Roman Catholic church|Roman Catholic]] primate of the Bohemian lands, declared his support for the students and issued a declaration criticising the current government's policies. For the first time during the Velvet Revolution, the "radical" demand to abolish the article of the Constitution establishing the "leading role" of the Communist Party was expressed by [[Ľubomír Feldek]] at a meeting of Public Against Violence.

In the evening, [[Miloš Jakeš]], the chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, gave a special address on Federal Television. He said that order must be preserved, that socialism was the only alternative for Czechoslovakia, and criticised protest groups. Government officials, especially the Head of the Communist Party Miloš Jakeš, kept their hard-line position. During the night, they had summoned 4,000 members of the "[[People's Militias (Czechoslovakia)|People's Militias]]" (''Lidové milice'', a paramilitary organisation subordinated directly to the Communist Party) to Prague to crush the protests, but called them off.