Freedom and independence must be safeguarded and defended every day - president

RIGA - Freedom and independence must be safeguarded and defended every day, President Edgars Rinkevics said on the National Resistance Movement Remembrance Day, taking part in the commemoration of national partisans at the Ile bunker today.

Addressing the participants, Rinkevics said that the National Resistance Movement Commemoration Day has been celebrated on March 17 for several years in a row. The President reminded that 80 years ago the Central Council of Latvia adopted a memorandum calling for the restoration of Latvia's de facto sovereignty and the restoration of the Latvian government during the German occupation.

Five years later, in Ile, Latvian and Lithuanian national partisans fought a fierce battle against the Soviet occupiers, against the Chekists, largely reminding that the spark of freedom was alive, Rinkevics said.

Today, their memory is being honored, Rinkevics noted, thanking all those who fought and kept alive the memory of the country's independence during the long years of the Soviet occupation, and eventually regaining it.

"But this is also a special day because we know very well that the world is not at peace, that our Ukrainian friends are now fighting for freedom in much the same way as the national partisans and the Baltic peoples fought for their freedom. Freedom is not a given - freedom must be fought for and prepared to defend every day. I am absolutely convinced that today, seeing so many people from different generations here, we will be able to defend our independence, our security. But we have to prepare for it - we have to be constantly ready for it," Rinkevics said.