The annual celebrations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany held at Victory Park across the river from down town Riga, Latvia, (memorial shown here) have been growing in popularity in recent years as Russian confidence grows and more and more of Latvia's Russians recover from the despondency of the period immediately after the Soviet collapse. There are large, active Russian youth groups in Estonia and especially Latvia with strong nationalist sentiment and ties to Putin's Russia.

Both Victory Park and the 9th of May are contested sites of memory. Baltic participation in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Naziism was ambiguous - then Latvian president Vike-Freiberga went to the Moscow event only to explain in a public forum the ambiguous results of the war for Latvia - the ending of one horrid occupation and the beginning of another. Violent protests were the result of the removal of a memorial and the re-interring of the remains of Soviet soldiers from down town Tallinn, Estonia, two years ago.

Today I received this call to prohibit the demonstration in my e-mail inbox. I have translated it from the Latvian:

The 9th of May is approaching. That is the day that the Soviet regime celebrated as the "Day of Victory." Every year various events happen in Latvia organized by pro-Russian groups. These events don't only recognize those who fell in battle, but also praise the Red Army, the Soviet regime and its symbols. In previous years the participants in these events haven't just used Soviet symbols and uniforms, but even decorated Stalin's portrait with flowers.

The world recognizes the end of the Second World War on the 8th of May. The 9th of May is a Russian/Soviet imperial holiday. For Latvia that day means the renewal of the Soviet occupation of Latvian territory. The older residents of Kurzeme clearly remember remember the atrocities committed by the Red Army soldiers immediately following the collapse of the front held by Latvian and German troops still holding out there. Rape, robbery, and arson were the true fulfillment of the 9th of May.

That is why we, the signatories, call for an end to the situation that is perceived as an insult to the tens of thousands of victims of the occupation and for Latvian statehood and call for:

- the Riga city council to prohibit the mass celebration on the 9th of May
- the institutions responsible for maintaining justice to vigorously assure that totalitarian symbols of the USSR regime are not used
- the police to see that in the Pardaugava part of town and in Victory Park where celebrants usually meet on the 9th of May there is no mass consumption of alcohol and no loitering in the area
- the lawmakers to change the laws to make the selling of regime symbols of the Soviet regime or the glorification of its leaders or policies a criminal offence.

The Club of Latvian Nationalists

The political party “Visu Latvijai” (Everything for Latvia)

(Read the original Latvian at http://www.visulatvijai.lv/news.php?readmore=1156318651.)

I will try to keep abreast of events as they unfold in Riga.