Tanks appeared in Sudervės Street at about 1:45. We, the men, tried to line up along the fence of the TV tower all the way up to the slope in order to block the way to the tower. A tank that had stopped in front of us was boldly moving its long barrel and blinding us with its searchlights. Its goal was obviously to frighten us and make us leave. But almost nobody moved from the path. When the other tanks were already far behind us, you could hear the sounds of an attack from there. But the tank that was by us was still searching for something to break. Finally it found one more Moskvitch car behind it. Then it crashed into it. It didn't go around a LAZ bus that was standing nearby - it “scratched" its windows with its barrels. It seemed like the drivers of the tanks had gone crazy and were looking for new victims. When they couldn't find anything to crush or break, they turned towards the tower. After we went through the broken fences (by the way, I was with a young Russian who I was sharing cigarettes with), we went closer to the tower. Standing in a higher place, about 100 meters from the tower itself, we saw the tower being attacked; large windows were falling down and we could hear the screams of people who were trying to protect the tower with their own bodies - they were trapped by tanks on all sides around the tower.
From the right I noticed a man by a tree with a video camera. We tried to block him from the tank's view. I think he managed to film everything, because later I saw a clip (on Leningrad TV) that was filmed from that same point.
I forgot to mention, that among the tanks there were also armored vehicle in which there were most likely paratroopers. The whole time they were repeating over the loudspeaker in Lithuanian and Russian that all the power in Lithuania had been taken over by the “National Salvation Committee", the intolerable regime had been overthrown, and that the power had been transferred to the workers and the peasants. All of this “democracy" and ‘freedom" which the new government was promising was continuously being illustrated by machine-gun fire and series of tracer bullets.
At about 2:15 people started to go to the square by the TV tower. I also ran closer. The tower had been surrounded by tanks, and between them stood a chain of paratroopers armed with tommy guns. Their faces were stony, furious, and their eyes were fixed. I'm not sure what drug addicts look like, but these people really looked abnormal. Later, one young soldier who wasn't very tall and who was apparently from the South was brave enough to talk to some people in the crowd who were about his age. He blurted out that before the attack, they had gotten “100 grams". I just didn't know of what. You could hear windows breaking in the narrow part of the tower, about 50 meters above. From the second floor of the tower (the very widest part) there was a stream of water. People said that the guards wanted to flood that floor to prevent the invaders from going up, but they hadn't been quick enough. By the way, they had also been slowed down by traitors who had led the paratroopers in through an underground passage meant for tourists.
Then firing resounded in the narrow part of the tower.
Finally an order was given to push the people out of the square. Roaring tanks turned towards the crowd. The paratroopers, with their guns protruded, began to push the people. Our group managed to climb a bit higher but others were pushed further down. Nearby on the right there was a small wall. A young man with a Lithuanian flag stood on it and stayed there until morning. From above, we watched as tanks chased people in the huge area below.
At about 3 a.m. we saw a group of people wearing jackets with red bands on their sleeves. There might have been about 50 of them. They went into the pillaged tower.
At maybe 3:30, Lithuanian policemen stood between the paratroopers and the people. They calmed the people down and asked that they avoid provocation.
Some 8 medics pushed their way through us. They asked to be let in so that they could take the wounded, but they weren't even allowed into the square. Chilled from the cold, I left the grounds around 4:30. Some others and I checked out the smashed cars on Sudervės Street so that we'd be able to be witnesses. We were afraid that the invaders would clear everything away and say that nothing had happened.
A shoe had been placed on the pile of crushed metal that had been a sand truck 2 hours ago. Nearby there was a crushed Moskvitch, and next to that was a pick-up truck.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 147-149.