• State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior Ilze Petersone-Godmane: there are entrepreneurs ready to employ refugees

According to the State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and head of the working group on refugee issues Ilze Petersone-Godmane, there are entrepreneurs who are ready to employ refugees. Mrs Perersone-Godmane also says that upon arrival to Latvia asylum seekers will be placed in the accommodation centre “Mucinieki” and procedure on evaluation of their status may long about three months. Latvijas Avize

• Protest action against accommodation of refugees in Latvia took place in Riga
• Former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga: 250 refugees is a very small number and the state should accept them

• Heads of Latvian local councils say that there are no promises for accommodation of refugees
• Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics criticizes the negative discussions around accommodation of refugees in Latvia

About 1,000 persons took part in a protest action against accommodation of refugees in Latviaheld on Tuesday, 4 August in Riga. Participants of the picket kept in hands posters saying “No to genocide of white people!”, “Baltic statesfor Baltic people. Europefor Europeans. Africafor Africans”, “SOS! Help Latvian pensioners and children” and others. The protestors demanded for a national referendum on accommodation of refugees in Latvia. Members of the governing coalition from the National Union – Janis Dombrava, Imants Paradnieks, Karlis Kreslins, and Rihards Kols and others also were among the participants of the picket. Diena, Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya, Neatkariga  

According to the former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the political “circus” around the issue of accommodation of refugees in Latviais not connected with care about these people, but with race for power. Mrs Vike-Freiberga believes that 250 refugees is a very small number and the state should accept them. By refusal to provide asylum for such small number of refugees Latviaacknowledges its total poverty and morally discredits itself, says Mrs. Vike-Freiberga. Vesti Segodnya

Commenting possible accommodation of refugees in Latvian regions, heads of Latvian local councils say that there are no promises to provide for refugees. According to the Mayor of Valmiera there is a housing shortage even for local residents in the city. The same argument is mentioned also by the Mayors of Riga, Kuldiga, and Rezekne. As the only option the Mayor of Kuldiga proposed to allocate some apartments for refugees in the parishes. The Mayor of Aizkraukle stated that the local government is not ready to take any decision without asking local residents. Latvijas Avize

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics criticizes the negative discussions around accommodation of refugees in Latvia. The Minister stresses that often people do not distinguish refugees from economical migrants and reminds that refugee or subsidiary status is not granted to economical migrants. He also refutes an argument that the asylum seekers from Syriashould stay in the neighbour countries saying that millions of them are already accommodated by the nearby countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Iraqi and others.  Mr Rinkevics says that Latviaas a full-fledged and responsible state – member of the EU and NATO has to show its solidarity with other countries solving problem with influx of refugees. Latvijas Avize

• President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis reminds to register Latvian citizenship 

The President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis has reminded about the opportunity for those non-citizens who by 1 October 2013 graduated schools with Latvian language of instruction, to acquire Latvian citizenship by registration. This opportunity is provided by the Article 10 of the Transitional Provisions of the Citizenship Law and will expire by 1 October 2015. Experts, interviewed by Vesti Segodnya are positive about this public reminder by the President and see it as a move to improve the situation in the country, help resolve the problem of non-citizenship, develop dialogue within the society. 

• Security Police detained founder of “Helsinki-86” group Linards Grantins for incitement to ethnic hatred 

Last week the Security Police detained one of former founders of human rights defence group “Helsinki-86” Linards Grantins. The detention was applied within the criminal proceedings initiated on 10 April 2012 for activities knowingly aimed at incitement of ethnic hatred and discontent using automated data processing system (i.e. the Internet). Linards Grantins, who permanently resides in Germany, established a website “www.tautastribunals.eu” (“peoples’ tribunal”), where he and his fellows regularly published allegedly anti-Semitic and Russophobic content, insulted the state officials, politicians and other prominent persons, and on numerous occasions announced that the “peoples’ tribunal” sentenced certain persons to “the highest degree of punishment” (i.e. to “death penalty” in vernacular). Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya

• Newspapers continue to report on possible redistribution of refugees to Latvia

 Newspapers continue to report on possible redistribution of refugees to Latvia. Neatkariga and Vesti Segodnya report that the Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma has signed a decree to establish a “high level inter-institutional working group for the resolution of the refugee issue” which would resolve legal and practical issues of admission, accommodation and integration of refugees. MP Rihards Kols (National Union), dismissed earlier this month from the post of the Prime Ministers’ Parliamentary Secretary, alleges the government violated official national position on the issue, and believes that before announcing “abstract number” (250 persons) the government did not provide answers to essential questions, such as assessment of how many refugees Latvia is capable to accommodate in reality, preparedness of Latvian migration officials, social, education and healthcare specialists, security risk assessment (Latvijas Avize 21.07.2015). Vesti Segodnya interviews political scientist Kristians Rozenvalds, who believes that part of the reason why the society is opposed to the redistribution of refugees is that many Latvians still perceive the leadership as “them”, as an external force which always works against “us”, hurts “us” and thus “we” are always on a defensive. He also believes Latvia should follow the example of Denmark and be proactive.