 This event, organized by the human rights group Helsinki-86, was the first time after the Soviet occupation that the flower-laying ceremony took place, as the practice was banned by the Soviet authorities.In response the Soviet government organized a bicycle race at the monument at the time when the ceremony was planned to take place.Helsinki-86 organized another flower-laying ceremony on August 23 in the same year to commemorate the anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, at which the crowd was dispersed using jets of water.