The National Power Unity (NPU) applied to the city parliament in the capital, Riga, for permission to hold a street march honoring former Latvian members of the Waffen SS on Monday but was refused on the grounds that it was not a registered political party.
An 'anti-fascist' organization was asked to alter the time and place of their opposing anti-Nazi street march.
A Latvian SS Legion march in 2005 through Riga resulted in dozens of arrests after protests by Russian activists. The march involved WWII SS veterans and young nationalists.
Latvia celebrated a March 1944 battle between Latvian SS units and Soviet forces as a national holiday on March 16 from 1998 to 2000.
Although the holiday did not mention the Latvian SS Legion by name, claiming to be in honor of all those who had fought in the war, international pressure subsequently led to the holiday being cancelled.
Relations between Russia and Latvia and Estonia have been marred in the past few years by what Moscow calls the unequal treatment of ethnic Russians, the alleged persecution of Soviet WWII veterans, and the apparent revival of nationalism and fascism in the Baltic states.
Digg
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Delicious
Facebook
