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Riga Mayor Grateful to Citizens for Ignoring Nazi Vets Parade

© REUTERS / Ints KalninsThe annual procession commemorating the Latvian Waffen-SS (Schutzstaffel) unit
The annual procession commemorating the Latvian Waffen-SS (Schutzstaffel) unit - Sputnik International
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The World War II Nazi veterans and their supporters participated in the annual parade, marching toward the Freedom Monument in central Riga Monday.

RIGA (Sputnik) – The mayor of Latvia's capital city Riga, Nils Usakovs, expressed his gratitude to Riga citizens who mostly ignored the parade of Waffen-SS veterans and their supporters quietly held Monday morning.

"Some 1,000 people took part in the March 16 demonstration near the Freedom Monument today. It is about 0.14 percent of Riga's population. Thank you very much, 99.86 percent of Riga's citizens!" Usakovs said on his Facebook page.

The annual procession commemorating the Latvian Waffen-SS - Sputnik International
Glorification of Nazism on 70th Anniversary of WW2 ‘Abhorrent’
Earlier Monday, the World War II Nazi veterans and their supporters participated in the annual parade, marching toward the Freedom Monument in central Riga.

In protest, anti-fascist activists, dressed in white uniforms, called for a "disinfection" of the area around the monument that they claimed was tainted by what they term the "Nazi disease."

The march has been held annually since 1998.

Russian Foreign Ministry human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov called the parade a cynical comment on the memory of millions of World War II victims.

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