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According to officials, around a thousand Vilnius residents, most of them Russian-speaking, gathered at the monument dedicated to Soviet soldiers on the Victory Day celebrated on May 9.
According to the officials, some of them had so-called “Georgian” stripes, had other Soviet symbols and displayed the flag of the USSR. A protocol of administrative rights violations was developed for an event participant for the demonstration of prohibited symbols in a public place.
Among the participants of the event were several people without masks, as well as drunk people, some of whom chanted, shouted and insulted the officials. The latter promise to maintain order in the Antakalnis cemetery until evening.
Paulius Vaitekėnas, a representative of the Vilnius city municipality, stated that no one had requested the municipality for the event at the Antakalnis cemetery.
“People can, of course, go to the cemetery. This is not prohibited, but the police will closely monitor compliance with the requirements during the quarantine and will record possible infractions, ”said a representative from the municipality.
On May 9, people gather at the Antakalnis Cemetery every year, although due to the pandemic, there were significantly fewer last year than this year.
People bring carnations to the cemetery, thus honoring the soldiers who died during WWII. In the morning, the Russian ambassador to Lithuania, Alexei Isakov, visited the monument and laid flowers.
