Image: from left to right - Arthur Thiry, Maris Sants and Tjeerd Harrema, Vice-Mayor of Amsterdam at the Pride Rally inside the Reval Hotal Latvija, 22 July 2006, image by apollo.lv

http://www.huk.org/e/06-07-riga-e-arthur.htm

The days around the planned "Riga Pride Parade" (which was eventually forbidden by the city authorities and the court) were very turbulent. Because the European Forum of Lesbian and Gay Christian Groups had met for its annual conference in May 2006 in Lettland, the Foum was well aware of the situation, and several members were present in Riga, among them the co-president Arthur Thiry from Sweden, and HuK press spokesman and webmaster Reinhold Weicker. In the following, a report is documented that Arthur Thiry wrote on the Monday following the weekend. The letter-style of the report has been kept since it shows the immediate experience he and all of us got through.

(Monday, July 24, 2006): Hi everyone,

As you have all probably seen and heard we had a tough time in Riga. It will take me a while to get my emotions into place and the feelings of being violated out of my system. I will try to take you through my experience in chronological order from Friday when I with my good friend and Swedish Police Officer Irmeli Krans. (She is the police officer that is in the documentary film that we showed and gave everyone at the conference).

There were only about 12 people at the workshop, we had a translator, Mara, (a pro) and among the particpants were some high ranking government people from the ministry of health as well as the integration ministry. The workshop went well. It was possible to have good discusions and we were then invited to a meeting with the integration minister. I was able to present the Forum and have a good conversation with the minster about the need for legislation against discrimination with no exceptions for religious organisations. She is a politician but listened carefully to my arguments and actually agreed. It would be good to drop a project in her lap. I intend to do that with the help of EKHO and the COC (NL) and maybe the Swedish Police.

The court had been discussing the parade question all day. The verdict came at 18:00 with no permit being issued. There was some disappointment but the organizers would follow the verdict and an alternative to a parade would take place. Had a calm evening with dinner and some dancing. (did some planning for the service with Maris)

Saturday morning, beautiful hot summer weather cross the river to the church. Wear a minister collar and look and act the part. The service gets underway a little late, I do scripture readings, lead prayer, Maris preaches on Mary Magdalena. Juris the Anglican priest consecrates communion. At this point young men come into service, not disrespectful but restless. (Service was originally scheduled for 11 but changed to ten as to not collide with official press conference). Maris whispers to Andes from the front of the church that we need to lock the door. He immediately does so. We have a wonderful time of fellowship with the Spirit touching many. It seems that the opposition had planned to come to the church and stop the service by throwing shit on everyone trying to attend the service and thus prevent the service. What happened was that as we were leaving for the press conference (maris juris, a dutch member of the European Parliament and myself) the attack came. Maris was hit, Juris was covered and I realized later that I had aslo been hit but as I was in black I couldn't really see anything but the smell remained all day. The group attacking us wasn't a homogenous group, there were the obvious low life and scum, but also well dressed and disciplined fascists. There were no visible women in the crowd that was spread out in all directions to prevent us from leaving the church. Despite the serious threat the police did not give the service any protection and we had to flee back into the church. It took the police more than 10 minutes to respond and from what I could see two people were arrested. We had to walk two blocks to the car. There were still demonstrators around and eggs thrown. We drove over to the press conference. There we were given a warm welcome by an obscene, vicious mob of hateful protesters. The police surrounded us and led us through the crowd who were allowed to verbally abuse us as well as push us around. In the elevator on the way up the stench from us made a pregnant young woman from the organizing committee throw up. She asked us to forgive her but as she was pregnant she couldn't help it. Our arrival disrupted the press conference. The camera teams left the the room and crowded around us outside in the hall. We answered questions, Maris of course was the one they were interested in but as a foreigner I was also interviewed as well as the Dutch European Parliament member. The word was out internationally that Pride was under attack.

The trick was now to leave the building discretely enough to be able to go to the concentration camp outside of Riga for a small ceremony. Through contacts that Maris had we would be met by a small film team from the national Latvian TV and our actions documented. We decided that we need to split up. I would leave with the women Liga and Evita..(as if i could give them any protection!) We left the building at the same time Maris and company going in one direction and we in the other. We asked for police protection to get to the car but were denied this. The crowd verbally abused us, some spitting and we realized that we needed to run. We ran with a crowd following us. We basically dove into the car and sped away. I realize now that there were some sympathetic men who physically slowed the mob down. (Liga is a well known track and field champion, she has medals from both the European championships and the olympics. When we ran she really ran).

Maris was once again attacked and some women from the reformed congregation attempted to protect him and were covered with excrements. They missed Maris thanks to the brave actions of these two sympathetic women. Shit bombs hit their car though. (Maris was allowed to smoke within the car to try to cover up the stench). We made it outside the city to the concentration camp site where we were met by some members of Maris congregation and the film team. There were no protesters as this was top secret. We had candles and flowers and walked solemnly to the monument where we held a short ceremony that I closed in prayer. Maris had done a reading from the book "the men with the pink triangle" about the persecution of Gays and Lesbians by the Nazi's. We all wept. The Reuters news agency was also present.

We regrouped and by way of a well-needed car wash returned to the hotel where the alternative to the pride parade was taking place. The police were allowing rioting was take place. Maris and I were to be smuggled in through the kitchen. This seemed to be working well but when we came into the lobby to go up to the conference room we were verbally and physically attacked by Nazi women wearing combat boots that had been allowed into the hotel by the police. After this they were thrown out. Liga and Evita came through the mob through the front of the hotel. They had been assaulted and spit in the face. We regretted not smuggling them in as well but it was hard to know the level of violence and how big the threat was. Maris was the first speaker and pictures from our ceremony at the concentration camp were shown on the large screen. It turned out that protesters had been allowed into the room as well. Despite all attempts and demands the security was just not working. On my way to the toilet I met angry protesters that said leave Latvia or die I told them that they needed to relax as they were finally being thrown out by body builders that the hotell had called in as the police were not doing there job. Things seemed to be calming down but people were being assaulted by the mob as they tried to leave the hotel. Even tourists staying at the hotel! The police finally started reacting when rioters tried to overturn a car leaving the area with activists. I personally saw people getting hit on the head with nightsticks through the hotel windows. Things were going from bad to worse.

As we rounded off the alternative pride get together, Maris and I decided that we would stay in the hotel until things cooled down and went up to the sky bar. As we were drinking our first beer Hotel security came and said that we had received death threats and we escorted to a room the top floor where I spent the next three hours together with Maris and the organizing committee waiting for assistance from special forces to leave the hotel. The entrance had been blocked so even if we had tried we couldn't leave the hotel. Our cell phones were in full use. It turns out that the American embassy security forces had acted outside of the embassy to protect pride activists who were extremely threatened at a nearby hotel restaurant. My Swedish friends and fellow activists were bombarded with eggs and bottles! Despite being taken out the back way. As a dual citizen the embassy forces offered me help if I wanted to leave the hotel. I chose to stay with the organizers, as I was worried about Maris safety. The minister of Finance arrived, he called the special police and we were able to leave the hotel in a ministry car with an escort of police cars. We were taken to private home given refreshments where we watched the news two national news broadcasts where the trip to the concentration camp was shown before pictures from the riot. Maris' mother was interviewed. (There was footage of us walking through protesters). A silent minute was held for the death of democracy by the channel. Afterwards we were escorted to a restaurant where activists were gathered. We finished later the night at a bar with singing and dancing.

We had brunch with the organizers, said our tearful goodbyes with the promise of returning next year and flew home. Maris flew to Canada to do the workshop with Randi on Thursday.

Love,
a tired Arthur