Latvia's controversial Waffen-SS commemoration passes peacefully

LatviaRiga - The new Latvian government of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis successfully negotiated its first serious test Monday when a controversial event to commemorate Latvians who served in the Nazi German Waffen-SS during World War II passed without major incident.

Interior Minister Linda Murniece, in place only since the government took office on March 12, praised police efforts to prevent the outbreaks of violence which have marred previous years' events and which rocked the Latvian capital, Riga, in January.

A heavy security presence throughout the city ensured that no serious incidents were recorded, though police remained on duty and highly visible well into the afternoon.

Riga city council had refused permission for both an official parade to honour members of the Latvian Legion and a counter-demonstration by anti-fascist protestors.

Nevertheless, several hundred people including dozens waving Latvian flags, made their way to the central Freedom Monument to lay flowers, while a handful of protestors whistled and shouted their disapproval.

"The Latvian Legion is part of our national history and today is the day we show that we have not forgotten what they did for us," Raivis Dzintars, leader of the nationalist Visu Latvijai (All For Latvia) political party told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"We were not a big nation with a big army of our own, because we were occupied, but we can still honour our own soldiers," he said.

Dzintars was among the leaders of the flag-bearing procession which sang the national anthem in the shadow of the Freedom Monument.

Russian objections to the commemoration were propaganda produced every year, he said.

Outside Riga's Lutheran cathedral, where a memorial service for Legionnaires was held, two elderly men called Eriks and Valters said they had family members who died in the Legion.

They were not interested in the political games surrounding the March 16 commemoration.

"Today we are in NATO, but back then we didn't have that luxury," said Valters by way of explaining why the Legionnaires deserved to be remembered.

As non-Germans, Latvians were prevented from serving in the regular German army during World War II, so were instead formed into special combat units of the Waffen-SS.

More than 100,000 Latvian volunteers and conscripts served in German uniform - with a similar number swelling the ranks of the Soviet Red Army as the small independent Baltic state was crushed between the two superpowers. (dpa)

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