The parade of nationalists and neo-Nazis which has marred Lithuanian independence day celebrations for 7 years in a row went forward this March 11 as well.
Despite attempts by organizers to make the event acceptable and mainstream by calling it “traditional” and “patriotic” and to play down the swastikas and calls for the death of ethnic minorities prominent in earlier years, this year’s march was smaller than last year’s.
From 200 to 300 people, according to estimates by outsiders, gathered at the statue on Cathedral Square at around 4:00 P.M. on March 11, the more important of Lithuania’s two independence days which marks the date in 1990 when the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet parliament declared independence from the Soviet Union. The square was the final point by another march earlier in the day dedicated to celebrating Lithuanian independence and tolerance, which travelled the same route but in the opposite direction, from Independence Square outside the Lithuanian parliament to Cathedral Square. A large trailer painted military colors behind the gathering at the statue for the 4 o’clock march was outfitted with an oven and volunteers dressed as Lithuanian soldiers were still passing out free hot food to children as a variety of Lithuanian ultranationalists, neo-Nazis, biker gang members and various followers milled about waiting for the march.
March organizer Julius Panka was busy giving interviews to multiple television cameras as a light drizzle resumed. One group passed through the crowd collecting donations, while another sought signatures for a petition. Police patrolled the perimeter of the crowd on all sides.
One Jewish man from Vilnius appeared wrapped in an Israeli flag and wearing a yarmulke. He introduced himself as Daniel and said although he works for the Vilnius municipality, he was only there representing himself. He had occupied a specific rank in the IDF in Israel and wasn’t afraid of any possible violence from the marchers, he replied when asked about safety concerns.
“Are you here to support the neo-Nazi march?”
“Let’s talk about the exact definition of the word ‘support,'” Daniel said, before turning to another interviewer.
It turns out he had marched earlier in the day in the tolerance march and stayed on to confront the nationalists, although he didn’t dignify them with that term.
“They’re just stupid,” he said.
Is there any hope they might learn and become better people?
“I don’t care. I’m not their teacher, I’m not their parents, I’m not their God. I didn’t make them that way,” he responded. “You know, in Israel we don’t have a 50-cent piece. Do you know what we have?”
A half-shekel?
“Right. Do you know why? Because it takes two. You can’t do anything with a half, but with two halves you have one and you can do something. These people here, they’re that ‘half,'” he commented. “Of course there’s hope for them,” he said.
March co-organizer Ričardas Čekutis called for the marchers to form a column and get ready just after 4:00 P.M. in what was now a light rain. A banner seen in previous years was held by the vanguard, with the inscription “I’m proud that I am Lithuanian.”
The few people out on the wet main street of the Lithuanian capital Friday afternoon featured a mix of shocked, bemused and sardonic faces as a large group of police trucks and vans with flashing lights moved up Gedimino prospect, with cries of “Lithuania for Lithuanians!” rising up from behind the police column. This year the cries heard in 2008–“Juden raus!” “Lithuania without Russians is beautiful” and “kill the little Jew-boy” were absent, but have been preserved for posterity on multiple youtube channels, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciTMABKuYes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-89FIPIVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP3cmaTWA4g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCXuP70w3hI
Also absent this year was any larger group of monitors or protestors. Milan Cheronski, venerable former editor of the newspaper which the Lithuanian Jewish Community published for many years in four languages, was present, as were activist and writer Evaldas Balčiūnas and Polish Lithuanian pastor, writer and activist Julius Norwilla. A small handful of foreign journalists followed events as did several other people with ties to Israel and Litvaks.
The only real protest came halfway through the parade route: a single young man held up a sign representing Lithuania’s tri-color flag with the words “Lithuania for Everyone” inscribed in black. He shouted the same words in Lithuanian: “Lietuva visiems!” Police quickly shooed him off the street and back onto the sidewalk, but pedestrians on the other side of the street took up his slogan and shouted the same thing, including a middle-aged man and a separate middle-aged woman walking in the opposite direction.
The route was free of traffic with police on the side streets keeping automobiles away. The traffic signs were all lit up, all three colors at once, in celebration of Lithuanian independence, yellow, green and red.
Marchers converged on a small section to the side of Independence Square in front of the Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library, next to the old parliament building where the act of restoration of Lithuanian independence was adopted in 1990. Besides Lithuanian flags and standards, there were flags representing the neo-Nazi Right Sector Party of Ukraine and black flags with the White Power World-Wide logo. Absent was the SS Skinhead flag with swastika present at most previous marches. The White Power section also kept a banner held up for the press despite the heavy crowd pressing into the small space. Their banner was in English and was a collage of different motifs, including a newspaper headline about Muslim immigrants raping German women and a sarcastic “Proud to be a Gay Lithuanian” slogan, as well as the Pokémon logo. The people holding this banner were dressed in black and wore masks. No incidents of violence were witnessed during the march.
