'Nazi camp prisoners' try to prevent demonstration of SS legionaries in Latvia

Presidents of Estonia and Lithuania ignored Vladimir Putin's invitation to visit Moscow for the 60th anniversary of the Victory Day

People dressed as prisoners of Nazi concentration camps tried to hamper the march of the Latvian Waffen SS legion veterans in Latvia's capital, Riga. Tens of people, chanting slogans “Fascism will not work!” and “Death to fascists” blocked the street, on which the SS veterans were marching, RIA Novosti reports.

The police attempted to force them out of the street before the authorized demonstration of former legionaries was going to take place there, but the police did not have enough time for it. Demonstrators and their protesters went into a fight with each other, but the scuffle did not last long. The police pushed the “concentration camp prisoners” off the street and the march continued. Several members of the unauthorized action of protest were detained as a result of the incident.

About 200 people took part in the authorized demonstration in Riga: an almost equal quantity of former legionaries and young ultra-nationalists.

Meanwhile, a special opinion poll is currently being organized on the Russian Internet. The poll is connected with Baltic states' scornful attitude to Russia's Victory over Nazism. Pravda.Ru has already reported before that presidents of Estonia and Lithuania ignored Vladimir Putin's invitation to visit Moscow for the 60th anniversary of the Victory Day. Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga was the only leader of the three Baltic states, who did not turn Russia's invitation down. Russia's leading Internet media outlets such as Pravda.Ru, Utro.Ru, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Regnum, Yoki.ru, and others are working on a poll, in which people will be offered to submit their votes in an answer to the following questions: “Do you think Putin should withdraw the invitation from the Latvian president?” About 100,000 Russian Internet users are expected to participate in the poll. The results of the poll will be published on March 18th.