NEW – May 21, 2022
The previously announced march “For Liberation from Soviet Heritage” took place in the centre of Riga, reports mixnews.lv.
According to police estimates, about 5,000 people gathered for the event. It began with the performance of the Latvian national anthem by the participants. The procession was attended mainly by middle-aged people, there were also young people and children. Many had Latvian flags with them, and Ukrainian flags were also visible in places.
The course of the event was controlled by several hundred police officers. The procession passed from the Monument of Freedom along Kalku Street, across the Stone Bridge to Victory Park, where the monument to the Liberators of Riga stands, which has not yet been dismantled. The column of people stretched for more than a kilometre — when its first rows were already approaching the final goal, the last participants were still near the Riga City Council.
“Today’s march in Riga. Children, balloons, flowers, flags. What lovely people! There is not a drop of aggression in them. All they demand is the demolition of the sacred-to-us monument in honour of the Liberators of Riga and the deprivation of citizenship of hundreds of thousands of ‘disloyal’ ones, followed by forced deportation outside of Latvia. Is this Nazism? How could you think of such a thing?!” the opposition activist Vladimir Linderman says ironically.
Observers noticed that the drummer accompanying the procession used an instrument on which symbols were applied, extremely reminiscent of several swastikas connected together.
“This is not a St. George’s ribbon in the girl’s hair, but an ‘ancient symbol’. And drumming in the correct procession. So of course the police won’t notice. But in general, there are still our people in the police. Otherwise, how to explain the fact that at one time Margarita Dragila (the organiser of the “Immortal Regiment” in Riga – Ed.) was refused to march across the stone bridge for security reasons. There was an argument from the police that the bridge is a strategically important and dangerous place for a mass gathering. As they said then — ‘no one will ever allow a mass march across the bridge. It’s just dangerous.’ But for this procession, an exception was made. So there are our people in the police, there are!” Konstantin Chekushin, the head of the faction of the opposition “Soglasie” party in the Riga municipality, notes on a social network.
“Today Riga has tasted democracy. The march for the demolition of the monument to the Liberators took place. True, our democracy is so-so. Some can, some can’t. Some will be met by TV cameras, some by police vans. Of course, a march in DEFENCE of the Monument to the Liberators would have gathered many times more. But it will never be. Because our democracy is one-sided. Some people are banned from any rally, others are allowed any,” said Aleksey Gulenko, a resident of Riga.
P.S. Three detained during a march against monuments in Riga. The “attacker” showed the flag of Russia????????
Another person was detained by the police for exhibiting the flag of Russia from a smartphone screen. The police managed to detain him, even though he was driving by on public transport.
Of course, last time, on May 10, when a young man unfurled a Russian flag near the monument to the Liberators of Riga, everything ended for him with two months of arrest. Let’s hope that this is really the end of it and Aleksandr Dubyago will be released.
What will happen to the desperate daredevil who waved a smartphone showing a Russian flag is still unknown.
Sergey Vasilyev
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