People from Druskininkai were festively playing instruments and singing, and others from Vilnius and Kaunas joined in. We felt like we were all members of one big family. We sang songs by Maironis and other exiles. Everyone was comfortable and in good spirits because we all had one thought - that we were united for the freedom and independence of Lithuania.

At about 1:30, one man with a radio in his hand came over to us, and said that a column of tanks was approaching. Some people thought that it was a provocation. However, soon we could hear them. We started praying, singing, and chanting “Lithuania!" Tanks were already right by the chain-link fence and the human chain. It hadn't even occurred to the people standing there that the tanks wouldn't stop, as there were two barriers - one made of people and the other of metal. But the tanks drove straight at the unarmed crowd, crushing everything that got in their way.

Suddenly we heard glass breaking behind us. I turned in that direction and saw ferocious paratroopers breaking the windows with their guns and rushing inside the building. We still stood there. There was a man standing near us whose face and hands were covered with blood. Not far away a young man was showing his burnt clothes, and further away more people who had been shot were moaning.

Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 226.