Other events in Baltic States

The 66th anniversary of the 1949 March deportations will be commemorated on Wednesday in Estonia and abroad, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

At noon, interior minister Hanno Pevkur will lay a wreath at the War of Freedom monument in central Tallinn, there will be a concert by the Police and Border Guard board orchestra. At 1 p.m., there is a memorial church service in Tallinn Jaani Church. At the same time, there is a memorial meting in the Jüriöö Park in Tallinn.

The victims of the 1949 March deportations are commemorated by lighting thousands of candles in city centres. In Pärnu's Martens square the candles will be lit at 5 p.m., at Tallinn's Vabaduse Square and Tartu Town Hall Square the candles are lit at 6 p.m. and in Rakvere central square at 8 p.m.

Memorial candles will be lit also outside Estonia – in Washington, USA and in Sweden.

On March 25-29, 1949, Soviet occupation powers deported more than 20,000 innocent people from Estonia to Siberia.