‘Hands Off Free Speech’ protests, Independence Square, Vilnius, Lithuania on 16th, 17th and 18th December 2025 – by Vaida Pilibaitytė

“On 16-18th of December 2025 tens of thousands of Lithuanians gathered by the Parliament in protest against plans to politicise the public broadcaster, LRT. Over 143,000 people also signed a petition, making it the most popular online petition to date. The list of those calling on the lawmakers to step back included national and international media watchdogs and NGOs, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Council, the Lithuanian parliament’s own legal department, and more. A separate protest campaign – which includes on-air statements – is self-organised by LRT staff. Civil society and some observers see these developments similar to those as in countries like Hungary and Slovakia, where pro-Russian course began with attacks against the culture sector. As a child, I watched on TV similar protests as our newly independent Lithuanian public broadcaster was taken over by soviet troops on January 13th 1991. I could never imagine that I myself would have to protest in the same square, defending the broadcaster I work for, this time from an attempted take over by our own politicians. I went there all three nights in a row and recorded thousands of people chanting “Hands off free speech”, singing our national anthem and independence-period songs about freedom. It was dark and cold with temperatures around 0 C, but the fires were burning well into the night and we felt united and hopeful.” For more, see explainers by LRT English:www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/…rt-what-s-happeningwww.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/…crosshairs-what-nowwww.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/…at-you-need-to-know