Jauns.lv: six people with St George’s ribbons on their clothes were detained in Latvia
Latvian police on Victory Day detained six people who sang songs about the Great Patriotic War or wore St George’s ribbons on their clothes, for laying flowers at the sites of demolished war memorials several administrative offence cases were also filed, Jauns.lv reports.
“At the Salaspils Memorial, six law enforcers detained a man who disobeyed their instructions….. The video shows that the man is pinned to the ground and surrounded by six law enforcers. He repeatedly repeats that he “did nothing wrong.” Several human rights activists have also joined the confrontation, demanding the man’s release,” the report says.
According to eyewitnesses, the detainee switched on the song “Cranes” on his phone and listened to it without headphones.
In Salaspils, where the concentration camp was located during the war, three people were also detained for singing songs allegedly glorifying Russia, and one of them had a St George’s ribbon pinned to his clothes, the newspaper said.
A Daugavpils resident was also detained for a St George’s ribbon pinned to his backpack, while in Rezekne a man was detained for laying flowers at the site of a demolished monument to Soviet soldiers.
In addition, on May 9, the Latvian police initiated cases on administrative offences, the number of which is not given, most of them – for laying flowers at the sites of demolished Soviet war memorials, for songs about the war in cars, for the demonstration of symbols prohibited in Latvia, which include, for example, the St. George ribbon and the letters V and Z, as well as for a phone case in the colours of the Russian tricolour.
Earlier, Latvian police opened a criminal case against a man who brought carnations to the site of the demolished monument to Soviet soldiers known as “Alyosha” in Rēzekne three times in one month.
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