There could be a separate website for the events of 1968. There probably is. Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, USA and of course Britain. The countries where uprisings, demonstrations and government oppression occurred just roll off the ball point. Worried about the intensity of student protests in France, the authorities closed down the University of Paris at Nanterre on the 2nd of May. It had been going on since March. On the 6th, students at high schools schools started coming out in sympathy. On the 10th, there was a massive demonstration on Rive Gauche (no not the perfume), that police blocked from crossing the Seine. The left wing students gained such popularity from the public that there was a general strike on the 13th with around 1 million people marching through Paris. And that's the way it continued through May in France. At the end of the month, President Charles De Gaulle, doing the typical politician's impression of desperation disguised as bravery (back me or sack me), announced on the radio (national television was on strike) that there would be an election and the dissolution of the National Assembly.

The French protests were left wing tumults. Not all of them were. In Czechoslovakia for example it was a more liberal departure from a commmunist regime. The Dubcek government promised freedom of speech and assembly. The Russians invaded in August. The months after that were ones of non co-operation with the invaders. The next January, Jan Palach immolated himself near to the top of Wenceslas Square. There is a memorial to him at the spot. From there, looking towards the top of the square and to the left, the road coming in, that looks as though it shouldn't be there, really shouldn't. The Nazis drove it through the city in order to get quick access to the heart of Prague.

(Oh! and George Best was in the Manchester United team that won the European Cup).