RIGA, April 27 (RIA Novosti's Yuri Guralnik) - The Riga city council has again banned a meeting of Russian-speaking organizations. On Wednesday executive director Erik Skapars rejected the application of the United Congress of Russian Communities of Latvia and the Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools on holding a meeting near the Freedom Monument in Riga, RIA Novosti learnt from the Riga city council.
According to the two organizations, about 1,000 people were to attend the meeting.
Its main goal was to call on the Riga authorities for ratifying the framework convention on the protection of rights of ethnic minorities without exception. Work on them is now on in the parliament and government of Latvia.
Thus, the authorities are going to adopt the framework convention with stipulations that would cross out the Russians from the list of ethic minorities.
Earlier, the city council had many times rejected meeting applications of Russian-speaking organizations. In contrast, Latvian nationalist organizations may set up pickets in the center of the Latvian capital without restriction.
