Mayor Of Riga About Lukashenka, Changing The Flag And Belarusian Protests
13- 29.06.2021, 23:00
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An exclusive interview with the Latvian politician, who has become a hero of the Belarusians.
At the end of May, Mārtiņš Staķis, mayor of Riga, replaced the red-green flag with the white-red-white one with Pahonia during the World Hockey Championship.
In an interview with the Studio X97 program of Charter97.org, the politician explained his deed:
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"I realized that I got to explain this act from an emotional point of view, to understand why we (I wasn't the only one) did it. And I always then give such a comparison: imagine that the grandfather in your neighbors' family is abusing his grandchildren, beating them, morally humiliating them. What would you do? Just watch? Would you say it's none of my business? Let the parents deal with their own family issues? Or will you react in some way? Maybe you can't solve the problem yourself, but you can at least call the social services, the police, and somehow influence the situation. I think this comparison is pretty clear, if we think of Belarus.
For all that the Belarusian opposition has is faith, is the flag, is the Internet, through which they explain their ideas. And they are also beaten up in the street every day, they are abused by efforts of this mad old man. So I think the comparison is pretty clear. And when I explain the deed in this way - then many people understand it a lot better. I can't solve the problem of Belarus, that's obvious. However, I can at least draw attention to this problem. And if I have managed to do so, I am very pleased with it.
The mayor of Riga also commented on the seizure of the Ryanair plane by the Belarusian authorities:
"I don't think anything good about dictators. I believe that only people can decide in what political system or under what regime they want to live. And we have different paths to follow with anyone who doesn't think so. Yet there are regimes that are dictatorial, but they manage to live peacefully with their own people somehow. But there are also those that cross all the lines. When Lukashenka's regime stole an international plane - he crossed that line and I think the whole world understands it.
According to the politician, Lukashenka won't get away with it this time. His resignation is a matter of time:
"It's only a matter of time. What about dictators? One has to live and work with a dictator somehow. Yet it is very important for them to be predictable. You can't rely on them, but you can understand what they do. And this dictator no longer understands himself what he's doing, and others don't understand it either."
Watch the full interview with the mayor of Riga on video. Host - Yauhen Klimakin.
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