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March for social equality in Riga: Russians claim to preserve their language

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March for social equality in Riga: Russians claim to preserve their language


13.01.2019

Photo: Latvian Russian Union \ Facebook

The activists of Latvian Russian Union (LKS) and their sympathizers marched for social justice and equal rights on January 12. One of the main claims was to preserve teaching at schools in Russian.

The speeches given during the rally were both in Russian and Latvian. About 1000 people took part in march. They walked from Dome Square to Riga Castle and the Saeima. Hundreds of people were chanting, “Hands off Russian schools!”

The previous attempts made by civil society representatives in order to reorient the state course on the total elimination of Russian schools in Latvia did not succeed. As Russkiy Mir informed earlier, Latvia adopted a law that, in fact, destroyed Russian education in the country. All Russian schools will be teaching in Latvian since 2020/21 school year. This intention caused a lot of negativity among Russian-speaking residents, who represent about 40% of country’s population.

Latvian Security Service has already paid attention to the march and recognizes it as a potential threat to national security and an attempt of societal division. “Any activity, that is targeted on the polarization of society, an actual split or an internal conflict, should be seen as a potential threat to national security in the long term,” Baltnews.lv quotes the representative of the Security Service.

For its part, Latvian Russian Union critically viewed the statement of Latvian Security Service. “Seems like they were trying to unify the society by comparing Russians to lice, calling them a ‘genetic disorder’ and asking if it’s possible to send them away of country like Baltic Germans,” LKS noted.

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