• Congress of Non-citizens held an action near the building of the European Parliament
• Newspapers reports about resignation of the Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis

Vesti Segodnya reports about an action held by the Congress of Non-citizens near the building of the European Parliament. The aim of the action was to gain a support for the petition on granting non-citizens voting rights.

Newspapers reports about resignation of the Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis. The Prime Minister resigned after the tragedy in Riga when the roof of the shopping mall Maxima collapsed taking lives of 54 people. Following Mr Dombrovskis’ resignation, the President should appoint the new Prime Minister who will form the new government. Some representatives of the present governing coalition already stated that the Union of Greens and Farmers might become one of the members of the coalition but the inclusion of the Concord Centre is unacceptable as the main reason mentioning the fact that one of its leaders, Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs supported the referendum on granting Russian the status of a state language in Latvia. Vesti Segodnya, Neatkariga, Latvijas Avize

• The State Service on Education Quality will not punish two Riga Russian language schools which fell victims to the journalists’ provocation
• Representatives of the Association of Commercial Radio Stations proposes ban radio advertisements in languages other than Latvian
• Vesti Segodnya publishes an article about a radical organisation the Centre of Gustavs Celmins

The State Service on Education Quality (SSEQ) will not punish two Riga Russian language schools which fell victims to the provocation ofa TV broadcast “Illegal Hold”. At the same time, the SSEQ called the Riga City Council to ensure that the directors of these schools follow all the legal requirements and to improve patriotic education. As reported, journalists, on the threshold of the Independence Day (18 November), called three Russian language schools in Riga pretending to be representatives of the Ministry of Defence and asked the directors of the schools to put posters devoted to the Independence Day. Later, the same journalists repeatedly called the schools pretending to be representatives of an organisation “9 May” and asked to remove the posters as those contain information about Soviet occupation. Following such provocation, two schools agreed to remove the posters. Thus, the journalists alleged that despite the fact that Russian language schools conduct events devoted to the Independence of Latvia, managers of the schools are disloyal towards Latvian state. Latvijas Avize

Representatives of the Association of Commercial Radio Stations asked the Saeima’s Sub-committee on Patriotic Education to set that radio advertisement should be in Latvian language only. Authors of the proposal argued that such regulation would promote integration. Head of the sub-committee Raivis Dzintars and its member Inara Murniece (both represent the nationalists’ union) agreed with such proposal. Vesti Segodnya

Vesti Segodnya publishes an article about a radical organisation the Centre of Gustavs Celmins. Presently its ex-leader Igors Siskins is on a trial for possession of explosives. At the same time, the Security Police forwarded an application to the court asking to suspend the Centre’s activities arguing that the Centre does not follow the requirements of the Law on Public Organisations and Associations. According to the newspaper, on the profile of the Centre (which emblem is swastika) on one of the social networks it is written that it is not normal that ex USSR militarists, KGB agents and their families still live in Latvia and that it is necessary to fight the consequences of occupation in order to restore the historical justice.

• Cabinet of Ministers is about to approve granting of Latvian citizenship to 158 naturalised persons

Vesti Segodnya reports that the Cabinet of Ministers is about to approve granting of Latvian citizenship to 158 persons who recently went through the naturalisation process. 70% of applicants for citizenship are ethnic Russians, 11% are Ukrainians, 8% are Belorussians. 21% have elementary education, 53% - secondary, 23% - higher.

• Diena: Russia still raises issues regarding non-citizenship problem in Latvia

Diena reports about a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Latvia and Russian Federation Edgars Rinkevics and Sergejs Lavrovs. The newspaper highlight that Russia still raises the issue of non-citizenship in Latvia and sensitive historical issues. However, according to the Latvian Minister these issues were only a small part of the whole conversation. The Minister also told that he had to dispel the myths to Russian journalists about manifestation of Nazism in Latvia.

• Latvijas Avize prints an interview with the Mayor of Riga and the leader of the Concord Centre Nils Usakovs

Latvijas Avize prints an interview with the Mayor of Riga and the leader of the Concord Centre (CC) Nils Usakovs. According to Mr Usakovs, the CC becomes more “ethnic Latvian” as it has new ethnic Latvian members and support of many ethnic Latvian voters. At the same time, Mr Usakovs is against separation of the political parties along ethnic lines – into ethnic Latvian and Russian. Nils Usakovs also says that the CC does not support any ethnic Russian or ethnic Latvian nationalists and believes that nationalists do not work in the interests of the nation but they fight with each other.