Far-right party ad banned by state TV

Latvia's first pre-election fracas erupted when the state television network LTV refused to screen an advertisement by Latvia's far-right Freedom Party that sought to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment.

Latvian state TV's General Director Uldis Grava has sent the film to the Prosecutor General's Office for evaluation and told journalists that it violates a discrimination article in the law on radio and television.

With four months to go until national elections, the Freedom Party has since seized on the publicity generated by the ban and posted 180,000 promotional leaflets to voters around the country.

"The Freedom Party is promoting fear and hatred and nothing else. Such a video would never be broadcast in any civilized country," said Grava.

"We have a responsibility when it comes to building a civic society without hatred and discrimination. From my experience in journalism I think I can say that the idea of Latvia as a discriminatory country would spread like wildfire internationally."

The banned film depicts a black man in Latvian army uniform standing by the Freedom Monument, a key symbol of Latvian statehood. He kisses a Latvian girl while a voice in the background tells viewers that the man could be their future son-in-law.

Representatives of Latvia's Freedom Party said they had yet to hear an official explanation from LTV.

Michail Mamilov, an adviser to the Freedom Party's board rejected accusations of racism, claiming there was "no political message in the film." But he warned of the country being flooded by people from less developed countries in the future.

"LTV has not given us any official explanation as to the reason why they have decided to ban this film. If somebody doesn't allow a black man to stand by our Freedom Monument and kiss a Latvian girl, then they are doing the discriminating not us. Perhaps somebody will be happy to see their daughter marry a black man.

"There are 20 million refugees in Africa and Asia on their way to EU, and Latvia is not an integrated society. We have a lot of internal problems between Russians and Latvians here. We are not ready to take in approximately 100,000 political refugees to our country."

Nils Muiznieks, director of the Riga-based Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies, said the party represented a brand of racism and populism hitherto unseen in Latvia.

"What we have here is basically a bankrupt politician (party leader Gundars Prolis) who is trying to revive himself by using cheap racism. He is just clutching at straws," said Muiznieks.

In the leaflets posted to voters, the Freedom Party again used the image of a black man in uniform standing by the Freedom Monument. The caption read, "Today - Latvia's defender. Tomorrow - your son-in-law?"