The World - News from Feb. 17, 1988

Soviet police and civilian auxiliary officers patrolled near churches, a historic cemetery and in the center of Vilnius, capital of the Lithuanian republic, preventing demonstrations to mark the region’s short-lived independence. Jadvyga Beliauskiene, a Roman Catholic activist, told reporters that four Lithuanian nationalists were under house arrest to stop them from leading protests. Western reporters visited sites where protests had been scheduled but found none. Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city, also appeared quiet. The day marked the 70th anniversary of Lithuania’s declaration of independence; it was absorbed into the Soviet Union in 1940. Thirty-two U.S. senators have written to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev asking him not to interfere with this week’s observations of the anniversary.