After the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in the media and social networks, the message diverged that the Latvian authorities did not allow the Riga to organize a memorial at the walls of the Russian diplomatic mission. We checked the veracity of this statement.
In the evening of March 22, armed people burst In the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, where the Picnic group was to be performed. The attackers opened fire on the audience and employees of the site, and several explosions were also reported. As a result of the fire arranged by terrorists, the building caught fire, the roof over the auditorium collapsed. At least 137 people became victims of the attack, another 182 were injured.
A day later, the Russian state news agency TASS with reference to the Russian Embassy in Riga reportedthat the Latvian police forbade local residents to bring flowers in memory of the dead to the diplomatic mission building. “In the support of Russia and the families of those who died as a result of tragic events in the Moscow region, hundreds of residents of Latvia, sharing the pain of our people, continue to bring flowers and lamps to the walls of the embassy in Riga. That's just the local “guardians of order”, apparently, are unknown to such concepts as compassion and sympathy for others' grief - the Latvian police prohibits caring citizens to approach the diplomatic mission building in order to honor the memory of the victims of a monstrous terrorist attack, ”the agency quotes the agency of the diplomats.
Similar notes were published by other major Russian media, including "Russian newspaper","Komsomolskaya Truth" And Lenta.ru. Other publications, among which "RIA Novosti","Arguments and facts" And "Gazeta.ru", Specified that the spontaneous memorial nevertheless appeared across the road from the embassy. Izvestia newspaper, on the contrary, with reference to users of social networks reportedthat the memorial was destroyed by the police.
The publications that spoke about the ban introduced by the Riga police most often refer to one of two sources: publication Russian Embassy on Facebook and fast diplomatic mission in Telegram. The first record appeared on March 23 at 17:20 Moscow time, the second - on the same day at 16:35.
TASS brought only the first two paragraphs from these posts. Further, the diplomatic mission indicated: “As a result, people had to organize a spontaneous memorial on the opposite side of the street - through the road from the embassy among the“ exhibits ”of anti -Russian orientation, located there by Latvian nationalists and Russophobes.”
The fact that the inhabitants of Riga bring flowers to the building of the Russian embassy were also reported by the Latvian media. In particular, March 23 at 17:59 Portal Delfi Published Video shot across the road from the diplomatic mission building. It is visible on it, people who lay flowers. “Earlier, a number of Telegram channels said that police are supposedly forbidden to carry flowers and candles. This is not so, ”the journalists emphasize. It follows from the video that law enforcement officers are located directly at the diplomatic mission building and do not interfere with the laying of flowers on the opposite side of the street. Two hours earlier, a selection of frames from this place Placed In its Telegram channel, the publication "Wave", in the morning of the next day photos And video Tvnet shared.
The “wave” in its post clarifies that the memorial of Alexei Navalny, who died in the colony on February 16, was in the same place, “for the time being transferred to the lawn nearby” (this is also visible in one of the photographs). However, in other countries, flowers and candles in memory of Russian politics and on the day of his death, and on the day of his funeral left right near the walls or At the fence diplomasses of the Russian Federation.
The fact is that since the end of February 2022, in principle, nobody has been allowed to the Russian embassy in Riga, except for diplomats and visitors to the consular department, and any events, regardless of the position and purpose of the organizers, are held opposite, on the square near the House of Congresses through the Kalpak Boulevard. It was there that were organized Memory shares Navalny, Solidarity events With Ukraine and Pickets Against the Kremlin’s intervention in the internal affairs of Latvia. On the square through the road from the embassy recently were placed and posters in support of Ukraine.
The Delfi portal, at the request of “Verified”, applied for a comment to the Latvian police. The head of the press center of the State Police of Latvia Simon Gravite explained that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation to Ukraine near the embassies of both countries in Riga, it is not allowed to place flowers or any other objects. “This is done for the security of the embassies themselves,” Gravite emphasized. The constant duty of policemen at the buildings of diplomatic agents is confirmed by the “verified” journalists living in Riga.
“Given this aspect, on the opposite side of the street all this time, for example, is expressed support by Ukraine. And this weekend, the police did not repair obstacles and restrictions on laying flowers in front of the Russian Embassy as a sign of memory and expression of sympathy for those who died in Russia. The police do not interfere with the laying of flowers in a permitted place, if this is done with respect to others and without causing damage to objects of the urban environment, ”said the representative of the Latvian police.
Law enforcement agencies noted Gravite, while monitoring public order and security, as well as compliance with the laws of the republic: “The police have a strict position in relation to those who use this event to enter the conflict with others, is in a state of intoxication and damages the urban environment, and also tries to glorify military aggression or war. This is unacceptable and will not be allowed. ”
Thus, the TASS agency and a number of other media were incorrectly transmitted by the original messages of the Russian Embassy in Riga - police officers on duty at the diplomatic mission building did not prohibit publicly expressing sympathy for the victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus. Employees of the embassy himself, leading his accounts on social networks, deliberately distorted reality - diplomatic workers are well aware that for two years law enforcement officers are on duty, who do not allow any objects to leave the walls or near the fence. The use of the verb “had to” in relation to the Riga, who wanted to organize a memorial directly at the embassy, but did this through the road, seems to be manipulative - this word is true for participants in any stocks of the Russian embassy in Riga, regardless of the purpose of the event.
"Verified" thanks journalists of the Russian -speaking version of the portal DELFI.LV For help in preparing this analysis.
Photo on the cover: VESTURS RADOVICS / DELFI
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