■ Mayor Ken Livingstone:  “It is their duty to ensure that demonstrators are able to exercise their right to peaceful protest”

LONDON, March 5, 2007  –  The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today welcomed the statement of the new Mayor of Riga saying he was “ashamed” of the attack on the Gay Pride march in that city last year and urged him to ensure that the peaceful Gay Pride march in the city this year could proceed.

“I am greatly heartened by the statement of the newly elected Mayor of Riga, Janis Birks, that he was “ashamed” of the attack on the Gay Pride demonstration last year in Riga in which throwing of excrement and other attacks took place on the demonstrators,” Mr. Livingstone said in a statement released by City Hall in London.

An English translation of part of a far-ranging interview by a Latvian newspaper with the new Mayor of Riga was published by UK Gay News at the weekend.

The Riga Mayor said in the interview:  “The march needs to be safe from both sides. If security can be provided I do not see why they cannot march.  But the question is where.  Is society ready to see such a march in the city centre?"

Ken Livingstone commented that security is something that is under the control of the authorities.

“It is their duty to ensure that demonstrators are able to exercise their right to peaceful protest,” he pointed out.

“I urge Mr Birks to complete the stand he has taken and ensure a peaceful Gay Pride demonstration takes place in an appropriate central venue in the city.”

Mr. Livingstone’s statement comes as officials from Pride London prepare to fly to Riga to seal a “twinning” arrangement between the Prides of the two capitals.

On Wednesday evening, the British Ambassador in Latvia, Ian Bond, is hosting a reception at the Embassy.

Then on Thursday evening at the Reval Hotel, the formal signing of the “Statement of Unity” between Pride London and Mozaika, the Latvian LGBTI group that co-ordinates Riga Pride will be signed at a cocktail reception.

The “twinning partnership”, under the slogan Hospitality is Better than Hostility, will address tolerance and equality.

SEE ALSO

New Riga Mayor Ashamed of Events at Last Year’s Gay Pride.  Jānis Birks, the newly elected Mayor of Riga, appears to have no issues with the Gay Pride parade in the Latvian capital.  He was interviewed by the internet-based news portal Vdiena.lv which is run by the biggest Latvian daily newspaper “Diena”.  (UK Gay News, March 3, 2007)

LINKS

		Mayor of London's website
		website (in English)
		website

 

Posted: 5 March 2007 at 17:30 (UK time)