Council bans 'Russian March'

  • 2007-09-03
  • From wire reports
RIGA - Riga city council's meetings, processions and protests committee has decided not to allow a 'Russian March' proposed for Sep. 8 to proceed.

Police advised the committee not to allow the procession organized by the Latvian National Democratic Party and Russian nationalist union Rodina on September 8.

A police report said that the previous activities of the Russian March organizers indicated that the promotion of national intolerance could happen during the procession and that confrontations could be deliberately provoked between people of different ethnic groups.

Committee representative Girts Auskaps said that one of the march organizers, Jevgenijs Osipovs, leader of the Russian nationalist LNDP, was unable to satisfy the committee when quizzed about the organization of the event, prompting security concerns.

Osipovs disagreed, saying that the refusal to allow the procession was unsubstantiated and based on a false comparison with a march in Moscow that ended in violence. He added that the committee's decision represented a breach of his freedom and human rights, especially, considering that the former Latvian Legionnaires were allowed to meet and process on March 16.

He said the LNDP had been prevented from staging "a simple, peaceful protest."

Osipovs said he will appeal the decision and continue with preparations for the march. If the court does not allow the march, he will find other forms of protest to raise the self-esteem of Russian population and "to signal to [our] enemies, that starting this moment, there will be no peace."

Osipovs underscored that no extreme activities or violence were being planned either during the march or after it and that it is intended to be a peaceful event using slogans such as "Russian Education for Russians," and "This is Our Country."

The party plans to file a suit against Latvian Interior Minister Ivars Godmanis, for describing LNDP activists as extremists.