LESTENE. March 16 (Interfax/BNS) - About 500 people gathered on Wednesday at the Lestene cemetery 70 kilometers outside Riga to commemorate Latvian members of the SS Waffen legion who died in WWII. Participants in the ceremony included Latvian parliamentarians from the People's Party, Fatherland and the Freedom/LNNK parliamentary group, and also leader of the National Warriors Association Nikolajs Romanovskis, leader of the Latvian representation of the Daugavas Vanagi (Daugava Hawks) organization Valdis Kursitis, and leader of the youth nationalist organization Visu Latvijai! (All for Latvia!) Raivis Dzintars.

Chief of the local police department Vladimirs Sysarevs told BNS that 23 policemen monitored the rally at the cemetery, which passed without incident.

Public ceremonies that are conducted yearly on March 16 by Latvian SS veteran legionaries and their supporters, especially street processions and the laying of flowers to the Freedom Memorial in Riga, cause political controversy in Latvia and draw harsh, negative responses around the world.

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