March for Nazi-era unit draws jeers

Thousands marched through the capital under heavy police protection to honor Latvians who fought in a German unit in World War II.

Protesters jeered as the procession of about 3,000 people, a few surviving members of the Waffen SS unit known as the Latvian Legion among them, arrived at the Freedom Monument in downtown Riga.

Participants sang patriotic songs and waved Latvian flags before laying roses at the base of the monument as protesters chanted “Disgrace!” and “Hitler is dead!” in Russian and blew whistles to drown out the singing.

Thousands of police deployed to prevent unrest kept the two sides apart. No violence was reported.

Soviet forces occupied the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in June 1940, but were driven out by the Germans a year later. The Red Army retook the Baltics in 1944 and reincorporated them into the Soviet Union.