Integration monitor is a daily Latvian press digest on ethnic minority and society integration issues. The Monitor reviews the biggest Latvian dailies: Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga (in Latvian language), Vesti Segodnya (in Russian language). In specific cases other information sources are used. Latvian Centre for Human Rights is not responsible for information published by the media.

• First protest action was hold yesterday against the government’s plans to switch education in national minority schools into state language
• Congress of Non-citizens appealed to the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding

Yesterday, first protest action against the government’s plans to switch education in national minority schools into state language was hold near the building of the Cabinet of Ministers in Riga. The protest was organised by the party the Union of Latvia's Russians and gathered, according to Vesti Segodnya, about 200 persons. The protestors criticized the statement of the Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma that sooner or later all schools in Latvia will be in Latvian language only. Leader of the Union of Latvia's Russians Jakovs Pliners in an interview with Diena stated that the protests will continue because the planned changes are against the will of national minorities. The Minister of Education Ina Druviete, in her turn, believes that if the planned changes are detailed explained and implemented in tight cooperation with language and education specialists, especially teachers who work in ethnic minority schools than there will be no street protests. The Chairperson of the Union of Citizens and Non-Citizens Vladimirs Sokolovs highlighted that if Latvia is a democratic country, it should ask the parents before introducing any major changes affecting the education of their children; imposing the changes against the will of the parents is a sign of coercion and dictatorship.

The Congress of Non-citizens appealed to the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding asking to put her special attention to the problem of mass-scale non-citizenship in Latvia. The Congress says that there is about 300,000 persons with status of non-citizen of Latvia and these people are separated into a specific category of residents despite that they have lived in this country for generations, work here and pay taxes. The Congress also notes that as the majority of non-citizens are ethnic minorities, the European Commission paid special attention to the lack of political rights during the accession process in 1995-2004. However, after Latvia entered the Union, the government substantially decreased its efforts to introduce equal standards in the area of ethnic minorities.