The Lithuanian Jewish Community took part in a holiday parade in Vilnius together with other celebrants. Snapshots from that event available here.

BNS–March 11 Lithuania celebrated 26 years of independence. Conferences, ceremonies and exhibits were held in different cities. A special session of parliament was held to mark the historical separation from the Soviet Union, after which a ceremony to raise the flags of the three Baltic states was held outside on Independence Square, followed by a procession to Cathedral Square.

In Vilnius, Gedimino prospect’s traffic signals were reconfigured slightly to reflect the orders and colors of Lithuania’s tricolor flag and left on with all three lights shining. In Kaunas and Klaipėda youth marches and concerts were held to mark the holiday. On the evening of March 11, 1990, the Supreme Soviet parliament of Lithuania led by Vytautas Landsbergis voted to restore Lithuania’s pre-war independence. Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to break away from the union.

The morning march to Cathedral Square was followed by an afternoon march from there to the parliament by a group of ultranationalists. As the counter-march moved up Gedimino prospect with marchers shouting “Lithuania for Lithuanians,” pedestrians and a single protestor chanted “Lithuania for everyone.”

During the counter-march one person was arrested for public drunkenness.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community had expressed concerns about the counter-march, releasing a statement several days earlier calling up on the Government and the municipalities of Vilnius and Kaunas to take measures to stop “neo-Nazi chants, marches and similar types of signs and events” during the national independence holiday.