Summary

AP-APTN-2230: Latvia Procession Friday, 16 March 2012 STORY:Latvia Procession- Annual procession for soldiers who belonged to SS, counter protest LENGTH: 02:21 FIRST RUN: 1430 RESTRICTIONS: AP Clients Only TYPE: Natsound/Latvian/English/Russian SOURCE: AP TELEVISION STORY NUMBER: 732595 DATELINE: Riga - 16 Mar 2012 LENGTH: 02:21 AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY SHOTLIST: 1. Wide of Waffen SS Legionnaires sympathisers marching and singing 2. Mid of Latvian Waffen SS Legionnaires 3. Close up of roses held by veterans 4. Wide of Latvian Waffen SS Legionnaires walking in the march 5. Wide war veterans walking by, police watching 6. Wide of young supporters of Latvian independence 7. Wide of march 8. Wide of Latvian national flags held by march participants, Freedom Monument in the distance 9. Close up Latvian Waffen SS veterans laying flowers at the Freedom Monument 10. Wide of war veteran saluting 11. Veterans placing flowers at the Freedom Monument 12. Wide of a war veteran passing by the Freedom Monument 13. Close up of Latvian Waffen SS Legionnaire, Vaslavs Nerugals 14. SOUNDBITE (Latvian) Vaslavs Nerugals, 90, former Waffen SS Legionnaire: "We remember our fallen comrades. We were called to the army and we had to go. Had we had resisted we would have been shot right away. So it was in Russian times and so it was in German times." 15. Various of protesters against march holding posters with pictures of Nazi atrocities against Jews during German occupation of Latvia 16. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Janis Kuzins, World Without Nazism human rights group: "They use old people to raise their popularity and to get into parliament, to get more and more seats in parliament, to get to the government and so on.This looks more like a neo-Nazi show rather than a march of Legionnaires." 17. Close up of black and white picture of Jewish child next to dead bodies 18. SOUNDBITE (English) Efraim Zuroff, Israel director of Simon Wiesenthal Centre: "It is obviously a very sad day for Latvia, when you try and turn people among whom were Nazi war criminals, mass-murderers, into heroes. These people should not the be heroes of a democratic Latvia, member of the EU, member of NATO." 19. Wide of anti-Nazi protesters STORYLINE Nearly 1,500 Latvians paid tribute on Friday to soldiers who fought in Nazi Germany's Waffen SS divisions. Nearby, Russians held a counter-protest to recall war crimes committed against Jews and other minorities. For many Latvians the annual procession, from a Lutheran cathedral to the Freedom Monument in central Riga, the capital, is a memorial event for Latvian SS soldiers, known as Legionnaires, who fought for independence during World War II. However, Latvia's minority Russians, who make up about one-third of the nation's 2.1 million (m) people, consider the ceremony an insult to the millions (m) who fought and died in the struggle against Nazi Germany. This year about 100 Russians held their counter-protest about 30 yards (metres) from the Freedom Monument. Demonstrators hung large photographs of harrowing Holocaust scenes on wooden poles resembling gallows. More than 1,000 policemen were mobilised to ensure the two groups didn't clash. Latvia, which gained its independence after World War I, was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, then by Nazi Germany a year later, and again by the Soviets in 1944. The country restored its independence in 1991 after the Soviet Union collapsed. About 250,000 Latvians fought alongside either the Germans or the Soviets - and some 150,000 Latvians died in the fighting. Nearly 80,000 Jews, or 90 percent of Latvia's prewar Jewish population, were killed in 1941-42, two years before the formation of the Latvian Waffen SS unit - which some Latvians claim shows the unit could not have played a role in the Holocaust. "This looks more like a neo-Nazi show rather than a march of Legionnaires," said Janis Kuzins, of the human rights group World Without Nazism. Today, Latvia's government distances itself from the ceremony, but many see it as a sign that Latvia has failed to acknowledge a dark page in its history. Friday's tribute comes one month after a divisive referendum on the Russian language, which stoked ethnic tensions in Latvian society. Clients are reminded: (i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: infoaparchive.com (ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service (iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory. APTN APEX 03-16-12 1844EDT