Yesterday Human Rights Monitoring Institute released a statement to media and public institutions on situation regarding failure of Vilnius Municipality to issue a certificate for a peaceful demonstration on March 11, Lithuanian Independence Day.
In the press release HRMI reminds that freedom of assembly is a constitutional right in Lithuania which the government is obligated to protect and is allowed to restrict only in exceptional circumstances.
As required by law, HRMI and the Center for Equality Advancement informed the Vilnius Municipality on March 4, 2009 about the planned peaceful event - a patriotic action to be organized on March 11th, Lithuanian Independence Day, in the capital, Vilnius, to express support for the constitutional values of our country: democracy, human rights, tolerance.
Lithuanian citizens who value human dignity and the right to live in a safe and tolerant environment were invited to attend a peaceful assembly in Cathedral Square and participate in a March to the Parliament.
Regretfully, city officials temporized over issuing a certificate, delaying the process of coordinating the time, place and other details of the assembly. The officials have yet to provide in writing the reasons for the refusal, as required by law.
The assembly was planned to encourage people to peacefully protest against ultranationalism and to prevent Lithuanian Independence Day from being taken hostage by radicals who seek to turn it into a day for skinhead marches. The organizers believe that patriotism and the observance of March 11th must not be identified with xenophobia, fascism or other forms of intolerance. Organizers of the March aimed to send a message that March 11th is a celebration for all Lithuanian people regardless of race, national or religious origin.
It also must be noted that municipal officials issued a certificate for a march organized by the Lithuanian National Center (LNC), despite radical statements made by the LNC, intolerance toward other races, ethnic and religious groups displayed by its members, claims that human rights and antifascism are examples of extremism and open sympathy by the LNC for the United Lithuanian National Workers Movement and other neo-Nazis.
See more in Press Releases section here.
© 2012 Human Rights Monitoring Institute