Military

RIGA AUTHORITIES ALLOW FORMER SS LEGIONARIES PROCESSION

RIA Novosti

RIGA, March 3 (Yuri Guralnik, RIA Novosti) - Maris Tralmaks, Riga executive director, allowed Thursday former Waffen-SS legionaries to walk along the streets of the city on March 16, the Riga Duma told RIA Novosti.

The right-wing radical organization, Club 415, applied for holding the procession. Club 415 has been organizing such processions for five years now.

According to the application, up to 50 people will take part in the procession.

The Riga Duma approved the shortest route of the procession, 1.5 km, which will lie across the center of the city - from the Daugava embankment to the Freedom Monument.

In 2004, the Riga Duma rejected the application of Club 415, but the latter appealed against the decision in court and obtained the right to organize the procession.

At the same time, the Duma of Liepai did not hesitate to allow the former SS legionaries backed by the local nationalist Union of National Strength to hold the procession.

Such events take place in Latvia annually on March 16, the day when the Latvian Waffen-SS legion was formed (1943).