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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 17:18

Legion Day events in Riga ended without incident

BC, Riga, 16.03.2014.Print version
The annual Latvian Legion Day procession on March 16th, flower-placing ceremony and all counter events are now over, and they passed without incident, informs LETA.

Only a few stragglers remained at the monument, discussing history and the developments in Ukraine. About 30 protesters from "Association Against Nazism" are still in the fenced-in zone in adjacent Bastejkalns Park; and they are being filmed and interviewed by reporters and camera crews. The improvised gallows in the park are being taken down.

 

Also still at the scene – the large number of police officers, but as LETA just observed, they too are dispersing.

 

As reported, several hundred people in the procession honoring the WWII Legionnaires, were "greeted" by the "Association Against Nazism" protesters with jeers and whistles.

 

The procession began at 11.39 from the Dome Cathedral, where a mass began the commemorative day.

 

Police Chief Ints Kuzis reports seven arrests made on Dome Square and near the Freedom Monument today, calling Legion Day this year as "relatively calm."

 

Chief Kuzis told LETA that the "tactics worked out by the police and the mobilized resources have brought a positive result."

 

Specifically, the opposing groups were kept far apart from each other, so there were no conflicts or clashes, he said.

 

Kuzis mentioned seven persons arrested on misdemeanor charges – three for open containers of alcohol in a public place, two for use and/or possession of narcotics and two for hooliganism.






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