Riga Central Market has been housed in the former zeppelin hangers since 1922.

RIGA — Riga’s Deputy Mayor Ainars Šlesers has lashed out at the Interior Ministry, accusing it of connivance in allowing criminal groups to operate with impunity at Riga Central Market, one of the leading tourist destinations in the Latvian capital.

“Law enforcement agencies have been covering for the bandits [at the central market] all these years. Everything that takes place at the market takes place with the support of law enforcement agencies,” Šlesers told the Neatkarīgā Rītas Avīze daily in an interview published Monday.

The red-hot criticism comes at a time when the deputy mayor, who took up the post in the beginning of the summer, has vowed to overhaul the central market’s operations and turn the downtown Riga complex into a more hospitable, family-oriented destination.

Riga Central Market, often described as one of the largest markets in Eastern Europe, is a magnet for both tourists and shoppers looking for the best bargains. However, the market is also renowned for being seedy, chaotic, and overloaded with goods of questionable origin.

In an opinion piece published on the Delfi portal last month, Riga Central Market director Dainis Liepiņš admitted that no one in their right mind would bother going near the market after 5 p.m. since the area is overrun by tramps and drunks. Liepiņš is a full supporter of plans to revamp the market.

In August Šlesers’ gave city and market authorities three months to come up with a development plan for not only the central market but other open-air markets in Riga. It is likely that, no matter which form the final blueprint will take, a branch of the famous Lido chain will be included in the central market. The deputy mayor has already saluted the idea, and Lido owner Gunārs Ķirsons has expressed a willingness to invest.

Immediately after Šlesers’ intentions were announced, a storm of protest could be heard from many central market merchants, who expressed fear of losing their jobs.

No doubt, given the vested interests in the status quo at Riga Central Market, Šlesers won’t be able to go it alone with his plans — thus Monday’s salvo at the Interior Ministry. Without the law enforcement muscle to crack down on shady business practices at the enormous market, his grandiose plans will be undermined, if not consigned to remain on paper.

“She [Interior Minister Linde Murniece] should begin doing something” Šlesers said. “I’m not just an accidental passerby who heard and said something — I’m speaking about what we’ve all known for a long time. Law enforcement agencies decide whose side they’re on.”

Murniece is a member of the New Era party, which is a long-time rival of Šlesers and his Latvia’s Way/Latvia’s First Party coalition, which is currently in the opposition in Parliament.

Part of Šlesers’ criticism stems from the recent scandal involving Baltic Taxi, a new company established by airBaltic CEO Bertolt Flick, a friend of the deputy mayor’s. There were two separate shooting instances over several days where the goal was ostensibly to frighten Baltic Taxi, which many regard as an unwelcome competitor in Riga’s already over-satiated cab market.

Šlesers made his dissatisfaction with law enforcement agencies clear.

“When we took to the taxi business, there was a feeling at the beginning that the police didn’t want to help us. Only when I asked the police leadership the question, ‘Are you with us or the bandits?’ did the raids begin and more than 300 checks carried out in one night…Now we’re seeing that something’s beginning to change in this business, and some criminal gangs are beginning to fear that they’re being deprived of oxygen,” he said.