Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania recognition. The signatories succeeded in their mission and independent Lithuania survived until the Soviet Union occupied the state on June 15, 1940. Their political, professional, and social backgrounds were diverse. Several rose to political prominence; Antanas Smetona and Aleksandras Stulginskis were later elected Presidents of Lithuania and Jonas Vileišis went on to become mayor of Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. After Lithuania lost its independence during World War II, six of the surviving signatories were sent to prison or executed by the Soviet government and six others emigrated to Western countries. The signatories came from a variety of social
United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel of the Great March of Return protests. Multiple camps of Palestinians engaged in protest along the fenceline of the Gaza Strip as part of this effort in late March 2018, demanding the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their former homes in Israel, and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, as well as rejecting recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14 coincided with a major escalation of the protests, resulting in the death of 64 protesters on that day. On December 6, 2017,