Drunken Brits beat up police

  • 2008-06-18
  • Staff and wire reports
RIGA - Three drunken British tourists attacked and hospitalized a uniformed police officer, prompting law enforcement and political officials to call for a "solution" to the growing problem of foreign hooligans.
At 8:50 p.m. on June 13, a police surveillance camera recorded three people attacking a police officer who had been called to a nightclub on Livu Square to calm the men. The officer, who was unarmed at the time of the attack, suffered a concussion and numerous bruises.
One of the tourists was arrested at the scene 's the other two managed to escape when backup officers arrived, but were later apprehended.
  
The incident has prompted authorities to highlight the increasing number of tourists, most of whom held British or Irish citizenship, that have recently had runs-ins with the law while visiting Riga.
"It is worrying that the number of cases of foreign nationals ignoring any human norms and regulations and showing disrespect to the people around them is increasing," Riga City Mayor Janis Birks was quoted by the Baltic News Service as saying.
"I would like to find out the police opinion on the recent events and see possible solution proposals," he said.
Criminal Police chief Ints Kuzis has also pointed to the worsening situation.

"Their behavior becomes more and more shameless… I believe that in the situation of violence against the police officer, the suspects should be detained," Kuzis told journalists on June 16.
Riga Deputy Mayor Janis Dinevics, meanwhile, has called for stricter punishment in cases where police officers may be harmed.

Two of the tourists, aged 28 and 32, were released pending an 8,000 lat (11,383 euro) bail and have already returned to Britain. If the suspects do not pay the bail by June 23, an international arrest warrant will be issued for them. The men face as much as 13 years in prison and hefty fines for the offense.
The third tourist was granted the status of witness.

As reported by The Baltic Times in June 2008, British and Irish citizens 's most of whom travel to Riga for stag parties 's have been charged with hooliganism in increasing numbers over the past year. There have been nearly a dozen cases of Brits defiling the city's Freedom Monument.