RIGA - The increased police presence that had been present in Riga's Old Town since riots shook the city on Jan. 13 have been called off.
Andris Dzenis, the head of the Riga regional police department, said on the days following Jan. 13 other functions of
the law enforcement authorities, such as criminal investigations, had been
hampered. Night patrols were stepped up during that period, and most of
the officers involved were unable to stick to their regular working
schedule.
Analyzing the events of the night of the unrest, law enforcement
authorities concluded that the Old Town was unsuitable for such large
public events and that other places should be used for staging such mass
rallies. At the same time, police said, it is necessary to asses the
responsibility of organizers of the rally, the opposition party Society
for Other Politics, and rules are needed to regulate the distance between
demonstrators and government buildings, Dzenis said.
Members of the Riga City Council security and public order affairs
committee agreed that staging such public events should be
restricted in the Old City, but noted that they should not be banned
altogether. Raimonds Vilde, chairman of the committee, said the number of
participants at such events should be limited to 5,000 or 6,000 people.
