Only 20 participants showed up for the pro-Nazi procession Thursday. Photo by Harry Callan/Baltic Reports
RIGA – Latvian authorities managed to turn a potential public relations disaster into something slightly better Thursday evening when police stepped into halt a parade with clear Nazi overtones.
The parade to commemorate the day Nazi troops marched into the Latvian capital Riga in 1941 was brought to an abrupt end by police thanks to a legal technicality. Uldis Friemanis – the individual who had won permission for the event thanks to a decision by a district court — was not present at the event when it began, therefore it was deemed to be an unlawful gathering.
Anti-fascist demonstrators clapped and cheered police as they moved in and made two arrests.
Only around 20 individuals gathered in the shadow of the Latvian Occupation Museum to take part in the parade. A similar number of counter-protesters took up positions in the center of Town Hall Square and chaos briefly threatened to ensue as the two groups moved off together and began arguing as they went.
But as soon as the throng reached the edge of Town Hall Square, police moved in and made two arrests.
Despite the official halting of the event, some individuals did continue the walk to the nearby Freedom Monument individually. Some told Baltic Reports the German occupation of the country had been “better” than the Soviet occupation. Others expressed blatantly fascist sympathies and said the world “needed more Mussolinis and Hitlers.”
Participants in the procession did not bring any posters or clothing with Nazi symbols, but upon closer examination swastikas could be found. Photo by Harry Callan/Baltic Reports
A court on Tuesday overturned an earlier ban on the event imposed by Riga city council. The ruling provoked international condemnation, particularly from Jewish groups.
In Latvia, parties across the political spectrum condemned the march. MEP Roberts Zīle of the nationalist For Fatherland and Freedom Party said the event was unacceptable.
“There is nothing to celebrate in either of the occupations,” he said.
On Wednesday President Valdis Zatlers issued a strong denunciation calling the whole thing “a mockery of the country’s independence.”
Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman is due to visit Latvia on July 4 to take part in a commemoration of the genocide that all but destroyed Riga‘s Jewish population.
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