Wednesday, March 16, 2011

March 16 - police, peaceful marchers and free expression

The annual March 16 event to commemorate the Latvian Legion, forcibly conscripted by the German occupation authorities in 1943, passed peacefully after its almost ritual banning by the Riga City authorities and the lifting of the ban by a Latvian court. It almost looked like an effort by outgoing Minister of Interior Linda Mūrniece (caught briefly in the video) to show that there were still many police under her command. Toward the end of the video, when I say this may be one of the last few years when the event takes place, I mean that there will be very few actual veterans of the Legion left alive and fit to march. It will either fade or become a purely politicized event expressing differing interpretations of historical events that few people have living memory of.

1 comment:

Wannabe Sorosieši said...

I am too lazy to find the cite at the moment, but you cannot make this blanket statement "forcibly conscripted by the German occupation authorities in 1943" Many/most were, but some/many weren't. My cite is of the diary of a LV/Australian who talks of running away from the farm to join up. He suggests that he was not the only one. This is not to suggest nazi tendencies, but to acknowledge truth.