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Groups announce protest against refugee resettlement in Latvia

Xinhua, July 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Anti-immigration groups in Latvia announced plans to stage a rally against the government's decision to resettle several hundred refugees in the country, local media reported Monday.

A similar protest took place in Latvia's northern neighbor country Estonia the same day.

The protest in Latvia is being organized by the Guard of the Fatherland patriotic group and is being backed by the right-wing National Alliance, a partner in Latvia's centre-right government coalition.

The party said on Twitter that the protest against taking in new immigrants would be held on Aug. 4 outside the Cabinet of Ministers building in downtown Riga.

Gaidis Berzins, an MP of the National Alliance faction in the Latvian parliament, said that in the EU's talks on the distribution of refugees across member states Latvia must insist on the adoption of additional criterion such as the proportion of the local population against immigrants.

Berzins also believes that the issue should not be left to the government alone to decide and that lawmakers should have a say as well.

On July 6, the Latvian government announced that over the next couple of years Latvia would admit 250 refugees from Africa.

The issue of refugee admission has caused discord in Latvia's government coalition. Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma fired her parliamentary secretary Rihards Kols of the National Alliance for signing a proposal to call an extraordinary parliament meeting over the refugee issue. Endit