... Having crawled out through the glass, the paratroopers started to hit people on the back with the butts of their guns. The paratroopers who were standing across from us by the tanks did the same thing. Under double fire, the crowd broke up and dispersed, but no one ran far - only about 15 meters - and then they surrounded the tower again, at least from outside. I looked at my watch: it was exactly 10 minutes past 2. At that time paratroopers were already climbing up the tower, marking every floor that they captured by breaking a window. Inside the tower itself, while the paratroopers were going up, you could hear shots and explosives. At the same time, the paratroopers who were at the bottom began to push the people away from the tower little by little. Their strategy was simple: a tank would open fire or an explosive would be thrown into the crowd, then the tank would move forward, pushing the people back, and the paratroopers, firing into the air or at the ground, would move into the cleared area.
An older man with a Red Cross armband asked the people not to go near the paratroopers, because every third one was drunk. I wanted to see if this was true, so I went over to the paratroopers. I didn't even have time to talk to one of them when a tank 3 meters away pointed its barrel at me and fired. At the last second I managed to turn away. The explosion turned out to be unbelievably strong, as I went flying (in the true sense of the word) for about 5 meters. I must have been unconscious for some time, because I didn't see or feel anything around me. I came round when some man fell down on top of me. My ears began to ring terribly. (I was told later that my left ear drum had burst.) After I crawled away, I saw two young men who had been wounded being carried along the side.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 233.