Baltic States – CIS, Forum, Latvia, Legislation

The decision was made by Juris Radzevics (Honor to Serve Riga), Riga City Council Executive Director.

As indicated by the Riga City Council, the city's executive director received a letter from the Security Police, which indicated that the event will carry a high risk of disturbances and that the organizers of the concert will not be able to keep the peace during the event. For this reason the Security Police recommended the city council not to grant permission for this event.

The Security Police believe that the essence of this event is to divide society in a provocative and defiant way in order to enhance ideological and ethnic tension. As the event was supposed to be held in the city center on Friday evening, there would be a lot of people, which would involve a high risk of physical altercations.

The police have information that the concert could be attended by radically-minded individuals who are tended to provoke confrontations.

The concert was to address non-citizens' problems and education in the Russian language, and Aleksandrs Gaponenko, one of the organizers of the referendum to make Russian a state language in Latvia, even said it would become "the local Maidan".