RĪGA – Shattered glass. Blue paint on the building. Broken plastic bottles. Cobblestones. Ninety-eight detained.
These are the preliminary results of the aftermath of the penguin revolution (when Godmanis told the people in his New Year’s Eve address how penguins deal with severe winter – they huddle together to stay warm – the same way as Latvians ought to do when going through the economic turmoil).
But it started all so peaceful. Around 5 p.m. several hundred people had already flooded the Dom Square in the heart of the capital of Latvia. People of different ages, ethnicity, backgrounds appeared united in their disdain for the ruling coalition, and – more importantly – the culture of political cynicism.
Following the 90-minute event mostly young people moved toward the Saeima building. They tried to get in. Prevented from doing so by the riot police, they began throwing anything that they could lay their hands on – from snowballs to street cobblestones. The first flood windows were shattered.
Commentators undoubtedly will analyze what had taken place – whether the riot was a fruit of public discontent and anger at the ruling clique, or a product of alcohol and intoxication, or, perhaps, a combination of both. One thing for sure, regardless of the protest, the political cynicism lives on. The Interior Minister Mareks Segliņš, who was nowhere to be seen near the riots, sent an SMS to Aigars Štokenbergs, a party leader, who organized the protest, saying “Now you can be proud.”
[...] 13 peaceful anti-government protest followed by rioting in Riga, Aleks Tapinsh of All About Latvia wrote that Ivars Godmanis, the Latvian PM, had “told the people in his New Year’s Eve address how [...]