Ap 22:30 pēdējie nemiernieki jau bija izklīdināti.

Kā informēja Rīgas ātrās medicīniskās palīdzības Operatīvās daļas vadītāja Vija Grigale, otrdienas vakarā medicīniskā palīdzība tika sniegta 32 sadursmēs cietušajiem cilvēkiem.

Savukārt Rīgas reģiona pārvaldes Preses un sabiedrisko attiecību sektora vadītāja Sigita Pildava informē, ka grautiņa laikā aizturēti vismaz 100 cilvēki.

Jāpiebilst, ka otrdienas 13. janvāra nekārtības un vandālisms Vecrīgā ir pirmais šāda veida notikums Neatkarīgās Latvijas vēsturē.

This was in   http://www.delfi.lv
According to TvNet we had a major riot.
Believe what you want….........................................

Can someone help Vidiot Winestain with a translation of this item from one of Latvia’s oldest and most respected newspapers, Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze:

Vairāki tūkstoši protestētāju, kuri pulcējušies Doma laukumā un apkārtējās ieliņās, dzied dažādas dziesmas un pieprasa atlaist Saeimi. Dažiem rokā ir improvizētas karātavas, bet citiem īstas mēslu dakšas.

He might not believe it coming from me that “vairāki tūkstoši” is significantly more than Aleksejs, Dyslexic Tom, his Wife, Granny, and 196 misbehaving teenagers.

Aleksej, do you consider a mob of people carrying “karātavas” and “īstas mēslu dakšas” to be engaged in a “peaceful” demonstration?  I’d like to see how “peaceful” you and your cohorts would be perceived at Barack Hussein Obama’s inauguration while bearing pitchforks and nooses.

/R

Robert, my goodness, I had no idea you were such a hero back in the day!  What are you doing in the industrial pits of the East Coast?  You saved Latvia once… why in the world are you not there now, lending your wisdom, experience, leadership?  Get off the barstool(s)!  They NEED you!  YOU know how to do this, YOU, apparently, were at the helm of Latvian freedom in the 1990s!  Robciks for President! 

Ah, but you also wrote:

Can someone help Vidiot Winestain (you’re a class act, Bobby -a) with a translation of this item from one of Latvia’s oldest and most respected newspapers, Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze:

Vairāki tūkstoši protestētāju, kuri pulcējušies Doma laukumā un apkārtējās ieliņās, dzied dažādas dziesmas un pieprasa atlaist Saeimi. Dažiem rokā ir improvizētas karātavas, bet citiem īstas mēslu dakšas.

He might not believe it coming from me that “vairāki tūkstoši” is significantly more than Aleksejs, Dyslexic Tom, his Wife, Granny (still proving your class -a), and 196 misbehaving teenagers.

Robert, Robert, Robert… you’ve spent too much time grunting to Fox News.  You read the first part of the first sentence, and missed the rest entirely!  The translation, in its entirety:

“Several thousand protestors, who have gathered in the Dome square and surrounding streets, are singing various songs and demanding the Saeima be dissolved.  A few have in their hands improvised nooses, but others, actual pitchforks.”

So, SEVERAL THOUSAND were present, A FEW had implements.  Seems to me that Vidas had a better understanding of the circumstances than you did!  (there’s a surprise)

From all the reports I’ve heard (Roberts’, of course, being the exception), the protests were peaceful, with the exception of the few hundred individuals.  It will be interesting to see exactly who incited those individuals, and before that, who urged the less-than-peaceful protests.  Perhaps someone who wanted the focus on the few, not on the thousands?

They had pitchforks and ropes formed into nooses Bobcik ? Zounds ! Did they leave the burning torches and the “Kill Frankenstein” signs at home ?

Why the Mounted Cavalry didnt spray the brazen offenders with rounds from their Gattling guns is beyond me ! If they could spray bullets in all directions in the same way you want to spray blame - well, no one would be safe.

The reports from various sources in Riga (except Jersey it appears) list that 10 to 15 thousand people participated in the peaceful demonstration where a few hundred were later implicated in creating acts of violence involving some minor injuries and property damage. This pales in comparison with just about any Euroleague football match - let alone any comparison to what anyone may understand to be a “major riot”.

Aleks and Tom were there. You werent. Who do you think is likely to provide a more believable review of the events ?

Vidas

ps… I guess with these “major riots” and people shamelessly brandishing 19th century farm implements and (gasp!) SIGNS OF PROTEST (!!) - this means that Aleks will be promoted to war correspondent now. Maybe there some higher pay and a pith helmet in it for him. Congratulations.

Regardless of whether it’s video coverage

http://tv.delfi.lv/video/e4UHB1gQ/

or still photography

http://www.diena.lv/lat/politics/politika/nemieri/foto-grautins-vecriga-pie-saeimas (see esp. wide shots: 2, 7, 11, 12)

the weirdest part of the images was seeing never more than a handful of people (often with beer cans in their hands, drunkenly staggering) facing off with the police, against a background of literally hundreds (thousands?) of onlookers, who not infrequently were taking snap shots or videos of the event.  It honestly never occurred to the ‘audience’ to try to intervene and, if nothing else, shame the drunks into calming down?

Of all people, my heart goes out to the policemen.  Even before being summoned to Vecrīga they knew that they faced either salary cuts or being layed off due to the coalition’s politics.  Those there last night deserve better.

Strange, Roberts must have been at a much different meeting than we attended. The one we were at had such fiery speeches as a call for a progressive income tax and the head of the farmers’ parliament telling us about the problems that the countryside has. We also listened to the head of a sabiedriba for disabled people telling us all about the money for services promised by govt but never delivered. No calls to arms.

We also heard the standard issue choir singing the standard issue choir songs overseen by song festival directors. Scum all.

Even at the end the crowd seemed energetic but peaceful. How many peeled off and went to Saeima? I can’t say.

But it is a sad day. There is no excuse for what happened, and I am sure that Roberts will misconstrue what I write, but how can a govt that stirs such hatred and anger stay?

Most (90%?) were there to use their democratic right to petition for redress. Nothing more.The Satversme vests a right to call for dissolution parliament to the president. How is a large meeting calling for the president to exercise that right undemocratic?

And then I must say that Dyslexic Tom is proud of the fact that so many people came out to use their democratic rights to petition. Many of the people I saw are the people who, day in and day out, are in the faces of govt trying to get them to change. Using the legal and democratic channels available. But whose attempts are thwarted at every turn by the people who push those buttons.

And poor Roberts had one small oversight in his list of scummy gorups (blacks, muslims etc). He forgot to include the faggots as provocateurs. Maybe next post?

And the police say:

Nekārtības Vecrīgā bijušas stihiskas un spontānas
http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/article.php?id=22910498

Sveiki!

Tom wrote, “Most (90%?) were there to use their democratic right to petition for redress.”

Tom, I’m sure it was more along the lines of 96-99% of the estimated 10,000 people.  I posted only one link to a video, but there are plenty more out there. ( http://tv.delfi.lv/video/OkPOsHHe/  ,  http://tv.delfi.lv/video/8g1fwNyP/ utt ) And some include film of the majority of people leaving after the main rally ended, and dispersing along the side streets of Vecrīga.  Though of course it can’t be substantiated, there were also reports that as this was occurring, others were entering Rīga for the subsequent ‘show’ that was turned violent by a small portion of folks.

Roberts has a long history of trying to be the ‘enfant terrible’ of LOL.  A friend, bemused by a mutual friend’s uncharacteristic behavior, once posed a theory that ‘acting out’ on-line provided a safety valve to society. Sounds reasonable to me. : )

Lai veicās!

Elizabete

One question, Roberts, in Latvia, whose job is it to provide security during protests that may turn violent?

“Zatlers draud rosināt Saeimas atlaišanu; gaidīs līdz 31.martam”

Bravo!

/P

P.S. I think Lato Lapsa’s article, “Grautiņa mācības un jautājumi,” is excellent.

This protest was not a “debacle” as someone in support of the status quo among these posts insists. It was a HUGE SUCCESS. I was present at the Umbrella Demonstration and then there were mostly elderly protesters present. This time the young people were out in force. I was very happy to see them active.

Because I live some 2 hours from Riga, I left the demonstration at 7 p.m. and, therefore, did not see the huliganism and other violent behavior. The main part of the demonstration however was peaceful if somewhat boring because of the uninspired speach making. When the speeches got dull, we shouted “Atlais Saeimu” (Dismiss Saeima!).

The demonstrants do have to learn something from the non-violent direct action groups in other parts of the world. It would indeed have been impressive if the 10,000 + crowd had gotten down on its knees in Dome square and prayed for the future of corruption free Latvia. The photos would have circled the world.

In any case, congratulations to the organizers for a (on the whole) well done job.

I think Roberts must be channeling Ann Coulter. I am going to try to put this as gently and tactfully as I can, but if the only thing you saw in what happened in Riga is the violence then you seriously need some professional help and frankly should be excluded from voting in Latvian elections.

Andrejs, a neutral observer

An eyewitness account (unlike Bobicks’ witless one) from a friend who noticed multiple groups of inebriated young men and russians (“urlas” in the local parlance) hanging about.

“Grautiņš vakar bija liels pārsteigums man, bet ne sievai. Staigājot par demonstrāciju viņa redzēja dzērāju grupas un krievus un uzreiz teica ka tie pēc demonstrācijas rīkos nemierus. Es neticēju ka šī iebaidīta aita tauta varētu kautko tādu, bet nu lūk. ... Policisti un militārā policija sākumā bija vienkārši pa maz un viņi baidījās no pūles un neko nedarija arī kad lidināja bruģus caur mašīnas stikliem.”

I’ll back PC on this one and, as he sometimes says, “Žetons Zatleram!”

The AP version of events.

The Associated PressPublished: January 14, 2009

RIGA, Latvia: Latvia’s government and opposition politicians blamed each other Wednesday for rioting in the capital that left more than 40 people injured in the worst violence since the country split from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The violence erupted late Tuesday after a peaceful anti-government demonstration in downtown Riga, where participants criticized ministers for the country’s worsening recession and called on the president to dissolve Parliament.

Most demonstrators left the area after the protest, but about 100 of them turned violent and tried to storm the Parliament building. Riot police kept them away from the building, using tear gas and truncheons.

The rioters pelted officers with cobblestones and chunks of ice and vandalized three police vehicles. They smashed windows of boutiques, the Finance Ministry and a bank, and looted a liquor store.

More than 40 people were injured in the violence, mostly protesters but also six police officers and eight military police, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sigita Pildava said. Police detained 106 people.

Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis told the LNT TV station that protest organizers bear responsibility for the melee, given their decision to hold the rally despite tensions over Latvia’s deepening economic crisis.

Opposition lawmaker Aigars Stokenbergs, who was one of the rally’s main organizers, called the government incompetent for not providing sufficient security at the protest, which gathered some 10,000 people, according to police estimates.

“What happened at Parliament was because of a lack of competence on the part of the Interior Ministry,” Stokenbergs told The Associated Press.

He called on Interior Minister Mareks Seglins to step down.

Both sides agree that the initial attack on the parliamentary building appeared to be organized. Police said they were investigating who was behind the rioting, which was the worst such violence since the break from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Police officials say the police force in Riga would be on alert Wednesday evening to prevent more disturbances.

Latvians are angry about rising unemployment and economic reforms including tax increases, and many blame Godmanis’ center-right government for the country’s woes.

The country’s economy was once the fastest-growing in the European Union, but it has undergone a dramatic reversal and is expected to contract 5 percent this year.

International lenders including the EU, the International Monetary Fund and Nordic countries have pledged $10.5 billion in financial assistance to help the nation of 2.3 million recover.