Controversial Latvian Waffen-SS parade passes peacefully

Mar 16, 2010, 12:00 GMT

Riga - A controversial commemoration of Latvian troops who fought on the German side in World War II passed peacefully Tuesday, thanks to a large police presence on the streets of Riga.

March 16 is 'Legionnaires' Day' in Latvia. Though not an official public holiday, several hundred people carrying Latvian flags paraded a short distance through the Latvian capital to remember the 140,000 men who fought in the Latvian Legion, combat units of the Waffen-SS.

Behind crash barriers manned by police lining the streets from Riga cathedral to the central freedom monument, demonstrators opposed to the parade chanted slogans including, 'no to fascism' and 'stop the legionnaires.'

Standing among the demonstrators was Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem, who had called on the authorities to ban the parade.

'The event has taken place. I wanted to be here and stand on what I think is the right side,' Zuroff said.

Immediately after the parade, people from both sides mingled and argued about differing interpretations of history, but no serious disturbances were reported. Police said they arrested five people for minor public order offences.

Latvia joined the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2004. Every March 16 tensions rise between the country's Latvian and Russian communities.

The Legionnaires' Day ceremony attracts widespread international criticism, though its defenders argue that they are simply remembering war dead who were forced to wear the uniform of the Waffen-SS because as non-Germans they could not join the regular German army, or Wehrmacht.