This week, it was Vilnius' turn to be violently thrown into the spot light.
The riots that tore through Vilnius, injuring numerous people and causing millions of litas in damages (see story Page 1), are strikingly similar to those that took place in Riga just days before. Judging by the way hooligans hijacked a peaceful protest to throw large rocks at Parliament, the two riots seem to have been structured from the same blueprint.
Somewhat surprisingly, the twin riots were also comparable to the Bronze Soldier riots that gripped Tallinn in April 2007, though clearly on a smaller scale.
In all three cases, those who took part in the riots were predominantly young and under the influence of alcohol. Many had their faces covered. Very few, if any, seemed to have any real purpose behind the rampant destruction 's the rioters seemed happy just to cause havoc for its own sake.
In all three cases, it seems clear that someone 's or some organization 's stirred people up, actively instigating violence against the state. In the Lithuania's situation, however, it seems even more clear than in Riga that the protesters had little they hoped to accomplish in terms of political reforms. With the country just coming off a fresh round of elections, it is almost inconceivable that the government has already "lost touch with voters" 's as Latvian President Valdis Zatlers claimed was the case in Latvia. Something more nefarious seems to be at foot.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus was quick to draw parallels between the three riots, and began discussing the hunt for organizers from abroad before the ashes had even cooled.
"The idea arises that disturbances are organized from the outside. They started in Estonia with 'the Bronze Soldier'… Then followed the event in Riga, and today it was Vilnius. It makes one think about certain sorts of thoughts," the president was quoted as saying by the ELTA news agency.
The president's spokeswoman has also been quoted as saying that the riots sent a "signal" to the government that it needed to "re-evaluate" its anti-crisis plan.
While the crisis prevention plan may have its faults 's and many financial experts may propose other ways of helping turn the economy around 's this is almost certainly not the reason that hundreds of drunken and hooded youths decided to hijack a peaceful protest, largely composed of pensioners, and launch smoke bombs at police. The first scenario, that outside forces organized the violence, seems much more likely.
The question of which outside forces may have an interest in destabilizing the Baltics remains up in the air, but police and politicians most likely do not have far to look. The answer certainly does not lie to the West, and if comparisons to Tallinn's Bronze Soldier riots hold up then the guilty suspect may be the most obvious one.
