Legionnaires' parade p***** off peacefully

- article is a few days old but...

Legionnaires' parade p***** off peacefully
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/20025/

RIGA -- The controversial annual parade to commemorate members of the 
Latvian Legion passed without major incident March 16. The Latvian Legion 
consisted of Waffen SS units who fought with the Germans in the latter 
stages of World War II.

One of the heaviest police presences ever seen in Riga created a uniformed

cordon controlling the whole route from the Dome Cathedral to the Freedom 
Monument, and ensured that the few protestors against the parade were kept

at a distance where they could do little but blow whistles.

The parade assembled on time at 11am following a memorial service in Dome 
Square and were tightly marshalled both by police and  their own
organizers, 
bearing armbands in the colors of the Latvian national flag. Holding
dozens 
of banners aloft, which included Estonian and Lithuanian tricolors as well

as the Latvian flag, the parade left Dome Square to the strains of Latvian

Legion marching songs.

Within a few minutes and with sleet falling, the parade reached the
Freedom 
Monument where a guard of honor formed a corridor and members of the
public 
laid flowers in memory of the Legionnaires. The small number of living 
Legionnaires were first, followed by widows, friends and families of their

former comrades.

A small knot of shaven-headed neo-Nazi sup****ters brought up the rear. 
Dressed in sagging camouflaged trousers, boots and hooded tops, their 
scruffy appearance was utterly at odds with the smart and dignified
bearing 
of the older participants and demonstrated their fundamental 
misunderstanding of the event's purpose.

The number of active participants in the parade was approximately 600-700,

with veterans and more elderly people leading the way with younger 
sup****ters behind. A few opponents of the parade, consisting of
anti-fascist 
demonstrators and nationalist Russians (including one man wearing a Soviet

military officer's cap) were present along the route but offered no 
co-ordinated opposition or physical threat.

Bemused tourists - including some more intent on celebrating St Patrick's 
day than anything else - took pictures along with locals and were given 
impromptu history lessons by English speakers.

By 1 o'clock, crowds were quickly dispersing and barriers were being 
removed, fears of violent clashes having proven groundless.