hello again this is partly the headline. but the deaths in syria as an arab league old mazen to damascus done violence has just passed much of the bludgeon only to bud signs put down. at least one person has been killed and more than six hundred in clashes with police and hard times of thousands of egyptians returned to toughly a square demanding the military and its grip on power are. also leading authorities caution on a kid on his son's

a father's love and already suggests he could face the death penalty but there are question marks over the premise of a trial conducted and media. and the corporate press has done counting down in zuccotti park in new york after being evicted by police and cheese day and the university of california has ordered an investigation after footage it described as triggering shows these public spraying students involved in a peaceful sit down protest. as the headlines are next on c twenty years after the collapse of the saudi chaney and we continue our look at how it's former state at that this time it's not clear that the spotlight. band aid since last tuesday independence day it's pomp and fanfare druids much of any other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders

gathered to lay flowers and the freedom monument in latvia scarcer riga. informal events like the torch for sessions held in the evening of the same day people who see themselves as the country's true patriots marched through streets closed to traffic for the occasion of the perceptions old and eyes by the radical nationalist party known as me or from latvia. however many people don't identify themselves with the festivities they are russian speaking residents who make up nearly forty percent of the country's population half of them have not yet received citizenship rights.

let me lindemann is a columnist for several months in newspapers he also investigates cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a lack in passports he's technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country. with the passport cover bears a unique inscription if the photo was written in latvian it says your passport of a non citizen was a reserve was more on the mint here in the english translation it reads aliens pass our cross sometimes we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet or even full of you point of international law we are treated as such just at present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia this. man fear became an independent state in one thousand nine hundred ninety one after seceding from the soviet union. barely one month later the country's parliament passed a resolution officially dividing the republic's population into citizens and so-called

non-citizens. the latter were denied voting rights they could not be elected to bodies of state authority or work in government departments. this applied to not only those who settled down in the country after nine hundred forty but their descendants take. in your truth i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the country you are live in this leave. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize for van't they need to pass exams on the country's history and show the command of the state language and the national anthem. after submitting all the necessary papers applicants then need to wait for about a year before they get a cherished citizens passport. many people fail to go through the procedure that the milliner meant for one was not even allowed to see those exams. for the past

five years and i spent three of them outside lot here why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights were never ever even stage a sit in in this building i spent the day here and refused to leave after office hours when the police force me out of. there was a time when victor durgan off a nice to taste and valdez samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now zat loses latvia's president during an off is a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. was not as a religion i can't bear to see the revival naziism in libya i can see it with the naked eye. upsets me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes its eyes got to the revival not as a group of the word was. on march sixteenth nineteen

forty three during the second world war the latvian legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off independence every year on the state's legion veterans have been officially committees to hold a parade in central reader. in two thousand and five victorian off and several other anti fascist clans and prison rape stood in the way of marching legionnaires. the police dispersed all the anti-fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom monument. crosses the. we believe that in a free country fascists and their followers have no right to bring flowers to a symbol of the state if the state doesn't see itself as

a nationalist but. all still our actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. proper value for rougher with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today forts in the soviet army during world war two. if kenichi convinced there was a paratrooper then. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war to make sure that nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one. in ninety one pounds the public display of soviet symbols. the attitude to us is just a bone about your brittle so there was even a case where a uniformed veteran riding on a bus on victory day had to leave because the driver stopped the bus and said he

wouldn't budge unless the mans that are going toward. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty it was later restored the act and he masterminded by he goes. he was sentenced to a brief time in prison. now he is again free to walk about central riga together with his son and opening discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth to some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. the following is nothing that should be simply pulled down symbolizing that we are no longer occupied. in the year when a good fish can blow up the monument another event occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet past is unfair silly kononov had been brought before

a latvian court to face criminal charges face actions and world war two they did it or the latest was the order of lenin only gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan krisna traditional. in most in latvia the ex parties and was declared an enemy and spent almost two years behind bars for taking part in the killing of local volunteers who were helping the germans. kannan of was acting on a decision taken by parties and tribunals and nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against anti-fascists people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition because they were able to review the elkan of the war edition in order to whitewash naziism and fascism really where she is and.

i was going to is lead a political organization called the national front of latvia the front to publish is a newspaper founded by him. better weekends and during public holidays volunteers hand out free copies to anyone willing to read the paper. its name contains three deeds they stand for do your care patient the call in isolation and d. russification. for a long time talk to god or towards ethics at the academy of culture some of his former students a regular contributors to the newspaper. now under their chief editors guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia feel that ethnic lothians make up fifty percent of the population of their own country and the other fifty percent occupies backs about russian. police it's necessary to create

uncountable conditions for them but we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the polarization we must say to each of the schools we give you a deadline to get out of here so it's. cameron north a british filmmaker decided to make a personal investigation into the into ethnic relations between russians and land fiends. he shot a documentary called latvia in hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels between present day lanphier and nazi germany. but also. the word. love that. they must go. with them on the lead rather than the bottom up report and i. think it would like to say this national stating that

the languages of the things you have to do is you have to. get. the things about rights and not feel if you're not a citizen and can't get some of the six of the jobs in the coalition are things where you are discriminated against because your impure. theory alex saves mother is latvian but his father is russian he has a perfect command of both languages. he received an excellent education both as an engineer and as a journalist his son is a school people. papa tell me what percent and means. is often at the loss when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in that field and. the internet translator says it means headline well yes that's a possibility. a country schools were formed in the middle of the past decade.

russian textbooks were hastily replaced with latvian ones now more than half of the subjects in russian language schools are supposed to be taught in latvian. for those who've. never russians aitches with a poor command of the let me languish gordon teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry work to russian schoolchildren it brings misery were both teachers and students within the within your tenure. in the course of education reform nearly all the old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protests acts had no affect the decisions of latvia's education ministry were fine. so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools and all subjects are still taught in russian. maffia language

textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. militia cough is the first russian mayor of riga since independence twenty years ago he too had to close schools down including schools for russian speaking students but it didn't lead to any actions of protest in that instance schools were shot solely for economic all rather demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no people's. morgan freeman opening why was so many of the decisions taken by the previous mayor were largely clinically motivated that was the basis for decisions about whether schools should be closed down walls and when we merge schools we make a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building since we also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers always more but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was last year was the previous and. the fact

that the russian was elected mayor of the land in capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprised many politicians analysts put it down to the economic crisis. those who had felt it. severe impact we're not taking as much notice of the nationality of a politician as they used to. use the word if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they have not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of a non-citizen or worker because the politicians would have been compelled to talk about the economy social issues and structural reforms instead of harping on the theme of latvians and russians every two or four years will be much and we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or put still have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things . despite its small size

there was scores of major industrial plants in soviet latvia. three of them which employ between ten and fifteen thousand workers each specialized in electronics. another one made minivans which were used as ambulances throughout the soviet union . today their production line stand idle. factory workers an engine is going to small business. grant for years highly skilled professionals have left the country in search of a job. well for the future science technology innovation all the rest of elements from around russia we've got the future covered.

under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers it made radio sets radio cassette players and tape recorders to cater to the needs of people across the soviet union. by the late one nine hundred eighty s. several plans making radio and electronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises what we know of the global in soviet times that i worked in a similar tree for about fifteen years ago school thoroughly for the break up of the soviet union in europe there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed but you have legacy what's left of its

warmest glinda the only one designer working here though. when lanphier achieved independence the republic's government began closing down its industrial giants the new regime expected more than compact and mobile enterprises to replace the old sluggish and largely outdated soviet factories but they were never built in adequate numbers. yes during the first five years of independence many enterprises were turned into scrap metal levy has sold it off cheap and lived of the money real estate and land were also sold during this time which was the summit biggest source of funds during another five year period he will publish here a lot of lines just before the country join the european union an avalanche of capital and low interest credit came here when they were not meant to develop production instead they were channelled into land and real estate as

a result would wind up in this situation a. similar process is were going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic food stuffs today half are imported. the genes are from spain it's a mother's a from the netherlands. these are from spain with the the cucumbers from the netherlands. you'd be hard put to find mystically produced vegetables here true danger in some pineapples don't grow the least onions were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not yet exist. after the declaration of independence the land in government downsized agriculture and betting on individual farms a land belonging to collective farms was given back to former owners all their

descendants under restitution plan. but most of them simply didn't bother to get into the difficult business of farming and instead prefer to sell off the newly acquired land mortgage it. was just busting your vehicle has been abandoned in the farm stands for the little greedy abandoned about sixty percent of them was young people not keen to go back to the countryside here some get an education others find a job and school grant to make commitments of things that others. the village of can believe is in that area one of the country's poorest regions local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with almost no minutes he's now one in every two flats is vacant. the local boy louse plant doesn't work the few people who still live here have to heat their

homes with firewood. already sometimes i fetch firewood once a day sometimes i do it twice a day and then i don't do it for three or four days my grandchildren give me a helping hand when they were little i would bring firewood by cart. and fisa has five children none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in western europe. and pieces spends her pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that i would want that this is my daughter to give me over that's. in the high yield. and here is a good lama and good thing in the idea is my granddaughter one thirty on the went to london to work there she left these little things in my care this boy was one year old and that one was in the third grade. their dad for god knows where so i

raise them on my own. people have no jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties and counted so collapsing on the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how each morning began in victoria more than a month until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious poor young people years on the move they paid back of course. after the land here declared independence whole towns were given back to their former owners under restitution a plan. they were quick to realize that managing an apartment house was difficult selling

a building itself was easy but dealing with tenants was the main hurdle. the standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building fall into a state of total disrepair and then its tenants were evicted under court for a living. today three years later there isn't any electricity in the house where victoria used to live she gave up and rented a small flat in a new building a school and i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything is in debt because the landlord has a habit of breaching and replacing the locks on the doors i also take some of my belongings with me. the tenants of the house have seen the landlord's only one since they filed a lawsuit against him in two thousand and six so far their attempts to win their case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive

a properties are difficult. thanks. the land in central riga is the most expensive in the country. this huge trading center is the private property of a norwegian building company. it buys the most profitable pieces of land in latvia and builds hotels and supermarkets there. for us and always the best time to invest has been very profitable. for they also have what they call the gray economy so that this is not the relief over not then this that this that. often men feel joining the european union in two thousand and four the economist started to warn of a new threat. they maintained that they were public might lose its economic sovereignty. about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors the country's fiscal system depends on foreign banks. you want to put a huge skid

a scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital that's going to not this means it controls just as much of its financial system with a book that clearly regrettably admission has lost its ability to work in manufacturing things was a lot of it when that field was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero debts that's really when gold today the picture is the oldest son the butler got a king. in january two thousand and nine mass protests way the latvian capital. the world economic crises had a huge impact on the country's economy people demanded the resignation of the government when it could stabilize the situation. moreover pensions look cuts as well as salaries and social donations.

these buju this crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years ago people used to i mean that's why after the nation plays no part in the country's life political or otherwise this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through because with the kooky. according to europeans it's six lanphier is the poorest country in the european union today. as local nationalists look to blame russian speaking nonresidents people are leaving the country in large numbers in search of a better life. last year's population has shrunk on more than fifteen percent since independence according to latvia's foreign policy institute e.c.s. some twelve thousand people leave the country for good. the u.k. is their most popular destination. the british

filmmaker cameron north described the problem in his documentary. with a laugh and some of the. firstly one of these is that economy not. a lot for that is much harder but good living partly because of nationalism i am mad about nash's and love them growing economy another reason is that they get very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia jeev sovereignty. but still independence day it's no celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon aliens are hoffer of the country's population.

in the.