In Latvia, 200 people were detained for the celebration on March 8
March 9: Two hundred people were detained by the Latvian National Identity Center on March 8 for International Women’s Day.
The majority (127 people) were detained in Riga, the capital, the rest in other cities of the country and on commuter trains. The most massive violation was the mass laying of flowers by activists at the railway station. It involved 53 people.
Under Latvian laws, the International Women’s Day is a “communistic holiday designed to whitewash all the atrocities of the Soviet regime.”
In connection with the unprecedented mass character of the protests on March 8, the Latvian National Identity Center called on all women to “throw totalitarian flowers into the trash and remember the numerous victims of the communist regime.” In addition, the organization again fined the mayor of Riga, Nil Ushakov, for “inconsistency with the national image of the Latvian nation.”
Yesterday, Panorama reported on the refusal of the Estonian authorities to register a child because of a “too Russian” name.
Translator’s note: The former Soviet Republic of Latvia has been part of the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance since 2004. Not surprisingly, there was no coverage of this mass human-rights violation by the U.S. media.
Translated by Greg Butterfield
Red Star News + Translations 