This will require permission from local authorities.
The Latvian Saeima Parliament (Parliament) Commission on Human Rights and Public Affairs has supported legislative amendments that will partially lift the ban on wearing uniforms of the USSR and Nazi Germany at public events with the permission of local governments. About this agency LETA reported on Wednesday.
According to it, members of the commission supported the new edition of the amendments, according to which the uniform of the USSR and Nazi Germany could be worn at public events with the permission of the self-government, if it is not used to glorify totalitarian regimes. At the same time, at public events it will not be possible to wear the uniform of the repressive organs of the USSR and Nazi Germany, and also to use elements of this clothing that will make it possible to accurately identify specific armed forces or repressive organs.
As the LETA agency notes, in this way deputies of the Saeima, for example, will not make decisions on the ban on the wearing of St. George ribbons, leaving this issue within the competence of the local government in which the public event takes place.
In June, the Latvian Saeima approved in the third final reading legislative amendments providing for a ban on wearing the uniform of the USSR and Nazi Germany at public events. They stipulate that during public events it will be forbidden to use the uniform of the armed forces of the former USSR, its former republics and Nazi Germany and repressive institutions (also in a stylized form), as well as its elements. The ban applies to public demonstrations at public events of the Nazi swastika, SS signs, sickle and hammer, as well as flags, emblems and anthems of the Nazi and Soviet regimes.
For violation of this prohibition, it is planned to apply a warning or a fine in the amount of up to € 70 for individuals, and for legal entities – up to € 580. The amendments will enter into force on January 1, 2020.
The initiative to introduce the relevant legislative amendments was earlier made by the national association “All for Latvia! – Fatherland and Freedom / Movement for National Independence of Latvia”, a member of the ruling coalition.