this is the headline. at least eleven people have been killed in egypt on sunday by security forces moving against her testers in cairo's tahrir square and demonstrating against military rule transoms are still remaining on the square overnight as just a week before parliamentary elections the fun start they overthrow of hosni mubarak and father and. start stories of this week counts down to now with a syrian government deadline set by the arab league to end violence expires that

president assad is defiant in the face of growing international pressure. to nonsense and see who prefers that's in america a lot of thousand strong marches all of the gay rights and then there's the left and the heavy handed for nuisance comments. and great sound italians gave an unfriendly welcome to the new elected leader is a major feared the troubled states and losing sovereignty because of economic measures. and. then headlines the other next our special report delving deep into the logic twenty years after the country stepped out from the ruins of the soviet union. band aid seems planned to use independence day its pomp and fanfare to the to any other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders gathered

salafis lawas 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 first sessions old denies 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.

lemay lindemann is a columnist for several latvian newspapers he also investigates cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even move led to me holds a lapse in passport he's technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country. not with the passport cover bears a unique inscription of better words written in latvian it says your passport of a known citizen was a reserve was more on the minute here just in the english translation it reads alien space hours well sometimes we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet even from as you point of international law we are treated as such just is not present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia this is. not fear became an independent state in one thousand nine hundred 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 states or thorson or work in government departments. they supplied to not only those who settled down in the country after nine hundred forty but their descendants take. thank you i don't want to be a second class person cannot be a citizen of the country where a live if. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize so that they need to pass exams on the country's history and show their command of the state language and the national anthem if 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 a mere lindemann one was not even allowed to see those exams. over the past five

years and i spent three of them outside a lot of fear of why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights were never of. their even stage a sit in in this building i spent the day here and refused to leave it after office hours when the police force me out of. there was a time when victor durgan off and the third test and valdis samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now sackless his majesty's president's dugan off is a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. who is also a possibility i can't bear to see the revival of naziism in libya i can see it with the naked eye in the waters of the world upsets me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes its eyes to the revival of naziism group of the word was.

on march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred forty three during the second world war the lacks in legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off the independence every year on the state legion veterans have been officially committed to hold a parade in central region. in two thousand and five victor durgan off and several other anti fascists clad in prison ropes to join the weight of marching legionnaires. the police dispersed all the anti fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom monument. crosses but. we believe 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 while. still our actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. your offer with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today fort in the soviet army during world war two. if guinea she convinces was a paratrooper event. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war he made sure the nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one thousand. until one bans the public display of soviet symbols. the attitude to us is just a bowman about your battles 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 man's there go to. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty he was later restored the axe and the masterminded by eager siskind he was sentenced to a brief time in prison. now he's again free to walk about central riga together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth that some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. the boy is nothing that should be simply pulled down symbolized that we are no longer occupied. in the year when the good shishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet parses and vassili kononov had been brought

before a latvian court to face criminal charges face actions in world war two ended it or delayed this is the order of lenin already gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan issue krishna traditional. in modern 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 in one nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against info fascists of people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition they were all to review the outcome of the war in order to whitewash naziism and fascism and as usual pressures of.

ivors garder is leader of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes 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 d's they stand for d. occupation d. call in isolation and d. russification. for a long time dr goddard taught ethics at the academy of culture some of his former students are regular contributors to the newspaper. now under their chief editor's guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia fiesta bowl ethnic lottery and make up fifty percent of the population of their own country and the other fifty percent are occupiers backed by russian. police it's necessary to

create uncomfortable conditions for their birth but we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the call is asian google we must say to each of them 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 that fiends. in short a documentary called latvia and hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels between present day land and nazi germany. during the second world war and of the circle. they must go. but they must leave other. things they would

like to say is nationalistic mad the the languages of the things they were thinking they had a. few things about them some rights in latvia if you're not a citizen. of the sex of. the coalition things where you are discriminated against because your impure. your reality 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 just tell me what percent in some means. is often a loss when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in latvia. the internet translator says it needs headlines 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. the oath grew whenever a russian teaches with a pull command of the levee in language teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry were to russian school children if it brings misery which are both teachers and students within the community knew. in the course of education reform nearly all old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protest acts had no effect the decisions of latvia's education ministry were final. so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools and all subjects are still taught in russian. math fin language textbooks approved

by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. the older shook off 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 or rather demographic reasons parts of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no pupils. morgan finagled mother so many of the decisions taken by the previous mayor were largely politically motivated that was the basis for decisions about whether schools should be closed down was because when we merge schools we make a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building we also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers because most but in the old days they

just closed schools down and that was lapsed because the previous and. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprise many politicians analysts put it down to the economic crisis. those who had felt it. servia impacts we're not taking as much notice of the nationality of a politician as they used to. miss the move if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they had not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of unknown citizens who were the politicians would have been compelled to talk about the economy social issues and structural reforms instead of harping on the theme of love the ins 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 still have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things.

despite its small size it was schools 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 lines stand idle. factory workers an engineer is going to small business. plants vs highly skilled professionals have left the country in search of a job. culture is that so much going to make a lot of people a area at berkeley uncertain future as the eurozone grapples with the single currency what is the future of political union to save the euro is it necessary to get. the world.

science technology innovation all the means developments from around russia we've got the future covered. under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers and 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 wilcannia of the in soviet times i worked in a similar tree for about fifteen years because goethe only for the break up of the serbian medium where they were close to eight hundred employees in the design

bureau where i myself was employed and where you have no you can see what's left of its former splendor 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 you know with during the first five years of independence many enterprises which turned into scrap metal levy has sold off cheap and lived off the money real estate and land were also soldiering this time which was a somewhat bigger source of funds during another five year period he recalled levy relied on lines just before the country joined the european union and evelyn capital and low interest credit came here to live there were not meant to develop production all before instead they were channeled into land and real estate as

a result of wind it up in the situation. similar process is were going on in agriculture under the soviet government and that korean collective farm supplied the republic with all basic foodstuffs today half are imported. he is going to jeans are from spain is among others are from the netherlands the gays are from spain with food cucumbers from the netherlands or it is a lot of use for get be hard put to find domestically produced vegetables here true to the injuries and pineapples don't grow here is the least onions were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not exist in the north. after the declaration of independence the land in government downsized agriculture and dated on individual farms 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 the thing illegal have been abandoned the farm stance of the left had already abandoned about sixty percent of down south as a result people are not keen to go back to the countryside here some get an education others find a job and school grant to make them into things that whether it's. the village of congolese is in that gully or one of the country's poorest regions local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with all modern amenities and 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 by woods. sometimes i fetched 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 he 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 the people who did this is my daughter to give me that's. in the high yield so it was and here is a good lama and good company in nigeria is my granddaughter play went to china 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 raised them on my own. people have no jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties encountered so collapsing and the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how each morning began victoria more in 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 are spent on the move they paid back of course. after latvia declared independence old houses 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 forced into a state of total disrepair and then its tenants were evicted under a cool feeling. 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 that's when i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't because the landlord has a habit of breaching and replacing the locks on the door. i also take some of hundred pounds with me. the tenants of the house have seen the landlord only once 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 llanview for

the first time to receive a property certificate. thank you. 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 lanphier and builds hotels and supermarkets there. for us now is the best time to invest has been very profitable. poor but they also have what they call the gray economy so that that's not really for over an up on the statistics. off the land field join 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. so when you put a good

a scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital in damascus means it controls just as much of its financial system as it of what it clearly regrettably the nation has lost its ability to work manufacture things that used a lot when that field was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero debts this winter when gold today the picture is the oldest city. in january two thousand and nine mass protests swept 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.

please would you do the crisis is the result of the country split into twenty years ago people with the most i mean that's why half of the nation plays no part in the country's lot of political or otherwise this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through this with a group. according to europe against its 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. clashes population is shrunk on more than fifteen percent since independence according to latvia's foreign policy institute each year 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 lot of things coming to the u.k. . firstly the reasons is that economy nothing in life that was much harder played good living partly because of nationalism you mad about national some of them going economy now the 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 its most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon aliens and heart of the country's population.