Police detain four persons, including MEP Zdanoka, for participation in unauthorized meeting

RIGA - On Friday afternoon, the police detained four persons, including MEP Tatjana Zdanoka, in City Hall Square in Riga, according to the information at the disposal of LETA.

The police reported that one person was detained for wearing St.George's ribbon, which is not allowed in Latvia, and three persons were detained for participation in an unauthorized meeting.

As reported, on Friday afternoon, a large number of police officers have gathered in the City Hall Square to prevent an unauthorized meeting, LETA observed.

The police had closed access to the City Hall. About 50 people had gathered on the Daugava side of the square - potential participants of the meeting and opponents, discussing current topics. 

The police ordered people to leave the location.

The Riga City Council right now has a meeting, discussing dismantling of the Soviet-era monument in Pardaugava. Latvia's Union of Russians (LKS) had planned a meeting to protest against this decision.

Later LKS called off a meeting it had planned to stage in City Hall Square in Riga Old City after the city council banned the event. The party's co-chairman Miroslavs Mitrofanovs said earlier that the ban on the meeting was based on the State Security Service's classified document the content of which was not disclosed to him. "Organizers were informed that provocations could be expected at the meeting," the LKS co-chairman said, adding that he was not informed what kind of provocations were expected and who was plotting them.