In Riga, the administrative district court overturned the Riga City Council's ban on holding two events announced by the United Against Nazism (UNN) organization on Legionnaires' Day (March 16). The REGNUM agency reports this.

On Friday from 8.45 to 9.15 local time, anti-fascists intend to lay flowers at the Freedom Monument. From 10.00 to 13.00 local time (that is, simultaneously with the procession announced by the association of veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS Legion "Daugava Hawks"), the OPN is going to hold a meeting not far from Bastion Hill. Up to one hundred people are expected to take part in the event.

Let us recall that the day before, Latvian nationalist Uldis Freimanis successfully challenged in court the ban on holding a picket on March 16 dedicated to the memory of the victims of Stalin’s repressions. The event will take place at the Laima clock, near the Freedom Monument. The Riga City Council will not appeal the court's decision.

Previously, the city authorities, in order to avoid possible provocations and unrest, banned events planned for the day of remembrance of the Latvian Waffen SS Legion (including a procession of legion veterans and their supporters). In total, city authorities have received seven applications to hold events on this day; their organizers are currently trying to challenge the ban in court.

The Latvian SS Legion was created by the command of Nazi Germany in 1943 on the territory of Latvia (from the local population conscripted to serve the Nazis and volunteer units). In total, there were about 150 thousand people in its ranks. Legionnaires' Day is celebrated in Latvia on the anniversary of one of the events of the Great Patriotic War (on March 16, 1944, the Latvian SS Legion first entered into battle with the Red Army).

The court allowed anti-fascist protests in Riga on SS Legionnaires' Day