Czechs honor student who wanted self-immolation to inspire

PRAGUE (AP) — Czechs are paying tribute to a university student who burned himself to death in Prague 50 years ago to inspire resistance against the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Jan Palach’s self-immolation shocked the country but failed to produce an immediate impact. The hard-line communist regime established after the invasion harshly persecuted dissenters.
But Palach’s action on Jan. 16, 1969 did inspire weeklong protests two decades later and the Velvet Revo