Latvia's President Valdis Zatlers has condemned an attack on a Jewish cemetery in the capital Riga, where unknown perpetrators had painted Nazi symbols on dozens of headstones. “Such things cannot and will not be tolerated," Zatlers told reporters, urging police to bring the culprits to justice quickly. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Foreign Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis also condemned the attack.
On Wednesday, state police spokeswoman Ieva Reksna told the news agency AFP that police officers had found around 100 tombstones with swastikas painted on them. A guard at the cemetery, the only still functional Jewish burial ground in Riga, had spotted the defiled tombstones, she said. Officials from the City Council headed to the cemetery after news of the attack emerged, and Mayor Nils Usakovs, who is on a visit to Russia, issued a statement condemning it.
