An estimated 4,000 people gathered on the evening of November 14 during the Lithuanian capital’s first snowfall to protest against Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who was inaugurated as MP inside the parliament earlier that evening.

Conservative Party and Liberal Union MPs left the chamber when Žemaitaitis took an oath to uphold the Lithuanian constitution.

Žemaitaitis catapulted to infamy in the early spring of 2023 by making anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements on his facebook page. His party’s parliamentary faction and then the party as a whole expelled him. Lithuania’s Constitutional Court found he had violated oath of office by calling for the murder of Jews.

He used the notoriety to form his own political party called Nemuno Aušra, or Dawn of the Nieman River, which placed third in recent elections to parliament, placing close to the Conservative Party in second place.

Initially pledging not to include Nemuno Aušra in any future coalition, the Social Democratic Party who took first place in elections reneged on that promise. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said he wouldn’t approve any Nemuno Aušra MPs as ministers in a coalition government. Žemaitaitis said he would fill three ministerial posts promised him by the social democrats with non-party members.

A sister protest was held in Kaunas across the street from the municipality’s Christmas tree display currently being set up. An estimated 500 people attended that protest. There was also a small protest in Tauragė.

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