Harry Potter camp threatened

RIGA - The organizer of a summer camp for Harry Potter fans in northeastern Latvia has received about 15 anonymous threat messages to her cell phone.

Lolita Osipova, project manager of Miranda M company, who organized the summer camp in the northeastern Latvian district of Gulbene, filed an application with the regional police on Friday fearing for the security of children at the camp.

According to Osipova, the text messages with threats were sent to her from various telephones. The senders of these messages urged her to scrap the camp, quoting the Bible and pointing at the summer camp's links with evil spirits, sorcery and magic, and warning of divine punishment.

"I am in charge of the children's security, so I turned to the police. I believe there is a reason for launching a criminal procedure," Osipova said.

Pastors of Gulbene's Lutheran and Roman Catholic congregations had made denouncing remarks about the planned summer camp for the fans of British author J. K. Rowling's children's books about boy wizard Harry Potter.

Vjaceslavs Bogdanovs, the priest of the Gulbene Roman Catholic congregation, confirmed that he had spoken in his sermons about the Harry Potter books' negative impact on the young generation. The priest, however, distanced himself from aggressive Christians, saying that everybody has the right to his or her opinion, but that it has to be expressed without insulting others and in a polite manner.

Osipova said she was surprised at the Christians' negative response to the Harry Potter camp, especially because children from pastors' families had been attending the camp in the previous years, which means that not all Christians are afraid of Harry Potter.

The organizer underlined that wizardry at the creative summer camp is perceived as artistic manifestations or tricks that have nothing to do with sorcery or magic.

"We teach children to waltz. This is magic!" Osipova said.

The Harry Potter The camp is a completely legal and professionally organized event for children.

The summer camp is due to open in a local palace in Gulbene district on June 16, with a total of 560 children expected to attend it in groups in the course of seven weeks.