Hanukah celebrations in Siauliai, Lithuania were partially disrupted by neo-Nazis, according to several Lithuanian media reports summarized by UCSJ’s Baltic Bureau. On Christmas Eve, somebody pulled down a menorah that was to be lit that evening. Activists from the Lithuanian National Democratic Party, the country’s main neo-Nazi party which has some seats on the local city council, held a rally during the ceremony holding antisemitic signs and shouting insulting slogans, according to the December 27, 2003 issue of Lietuvos Rytas. The mayor of the city called upon the extremists to leave, but eventually police had to be called in, and the lighting ceremony proceeded. Lithuanian National Democratic Party leader Mindaugas Murza is cited in the December 27 issue of Respublika blaming the Jews for the vandalism of the menorah, claiming that his followers had nothing to do with it. The city’s mayor apologized to the Jewish community for the incident.

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