Latvian teens beaten in Tartu

  • 2002-08-08
  • Aleksei Gunter
Tallinn

Four Latvian cyclists visiting an extreme sports festival in Tartu last week were assaulted by a local gang in an attack police have said was ethnically motivated.

The four Latvians, members of the extreme sports cycling team competing in the Estonian city, were attacked Aug. 1 when a group of 40 local boys followed them to their hotel, police said.

The Estonian gang was shouting, "Let's beat Latvians," and eventually attacked the cyclists from behind.

When one Latvian was knocked down, four Estonians kicked him.

The fight was broken up when the owner of a nearby pub chased the gang members away just before police arrived.

Edizc Vucens, one of the Latvians assaulted, told Postimees daily that they were targeted because they were Latvians.

"This is idiocy. Apparently we were attacked only because we were Latvians," he said.

The attackers fled before police cars arrived. An investigation has been launched, and authorities are searching for witnesses.

Tartu, Estonia's second largest city and its main university town, has had several incidents of ethnically-motivated violence, including attacks by skinhead gangs on black and Asian foreigners in the city.

Police registered four cases of assault on ethnic basis in 2001.

The attack on the Latvians is more perplexing, as they are culturally and ethnically similar to their Estonian neighbors.

Piret Kull, main organizer of the festival, said the accident was a disgrace. "The goal of our festival is to bring together people from different countries so local sportsmen could learn from them," she said.