Peaceful riot anniversary

TALLINN- A group of people gathered nearthe Linnahall arena in Tallinn's harbor area Sunday afternoon for a picket organized by the NightVigil movement, consisting mainly of Russian-speaking young people on theoccasion of the first anniversary of the street unrest of last spring.

The picketers were carrying generic looking signs, similar to the ones used  in the protests demanding the capture of thekillers of Dmitri Ganin, the 20-year-old Russian citizen lethally stabbed inunclear circumstances during the riots a year ago, and the establishment of acommission to investigate the mass unrest.

The protesters also declared their mistrust of the Estonian authorities and called the D passenger terminal of theTallinnharbor a dark spot in Estonian history.

During the nights of street riots and looting last April, the police usedthe D terminal as a makeshift place of detention where rioters were kept untilthey were either allowed to go home or sent before investigators.

Some people held in the terminal have complained of violence by staff.

Night Watch has staged a series of pickets and a rally in Tallinnto coincide with the first anniversary of the so-called bronze riots.

All of the gatherings have passed calmly and drawn a relatively limitedattendance.

Riots by mostly Russian-speaking young people broke out in Tallinnon the evening of April 26 last year after the authorities started moves torelocate the Red Army soldier monument popularly known as The Bronze Soldier fromthe city center to a military cemetery.