Britannia Radio

EU OBSERVER    21.1.09
Eastern Europe risks further riots as economic crisis bites
LEIGH PHILLIPS

  BRUSSELS - Civil unrest is spreading in eastern Europe as the 
economic crisis hits the region harder than western states, with anti-
government riots kicking off in Lithuania and Bulgaria in recent days 
and with Estonia and Hungary at risk.

On Friday (16 January), demonstrators attacked the Lithuanian 
parliament building in Vilnius with stones, smoke bombs, eggs and 
ice, breaking windows and calling on the government to resign. by Google

Police dispersed the crowds - estimated to number some 7,000 
according to authorities, with tear gas and rubber-tipped bullets - 
while Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius to hold [sic] alled an 
emergency cabinet meeting. A total of 86 individuals were arrested.

Organised by the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, the protest 
denounced public sector wage cuts and increases in taxes aimed at 
aiding the country's battered economy.

The violent protests come two days after similar events shook Sofia, 
the capital of Bulgaria, and follows on from riots protesting 
International Monetary Fund (IMF)-agreed austerity measures in Latvia 
earlier in the week.

In Sofia last Wednesday some 2,000 students, farmers and green 
activists also took up stones, snowballs and bottles against their 
parliament building and demanded the government resign. A total of 
150 were arrested and around 30 injured.

Last week also saw saw the biggest protest Latvia has witnessed since 
the demonstrations that led to the country's independence from the 
Soviet Union in 1990. A crowd of young people broke away from around 
10,000 peaceful protesters, overturning a police van and breaking 
windows at the finance ministry.

Lithuanian President Adamkus has suggested that the Vilnius riot was 
organised by outside elements.
"The idea arises that disturbances are organised from the outside. 
They started in Estonia with 'the Bronze Soldier'," he said according 
to the ELTA news agency. "Then followed the event in Riga, and today 
it was Vilnius. It makes one think about certain sorts of thoughts."

The Bronze Soldier riots broke out in 2007 after Tallinn moved a 
Soviet-era WWII memorial, amid accusations that clashes between 
ethnic Russians and Estonians were organised by the Kremlin.

Greek inspiration
But Latvian officials dismiss the idea that the protests are anything 
other than citizens frustrated at the collapse of their economies.
"It was just spontaneous," Inese Allika, Latvian diplomat, told the 
EUobserver. "Latvians are normally very quiet, and people obviously 
are seeing what is happening in other countries in the rest of 
Europe, such as Greece, and they thought 'Why are we so calm?'"
"There had been a huge economic boom in recent years, then all of a 
sudden, everything stops."

The riots are not isolated events but a wave of predictable reactions 
to the economic crisis, Dorothee Bohle, a political scientist at the 
Central European University in Budapest told this website.
"After a few years of relatively high growth and social advancement, 
it's all come to an abrupt end and they've been slapped with a very 
harsh austerity package," she said. "This is essentially a return of 
the 'IMF riots' we were used to from Latin America in the eighties 
and nineties."

In mid-December, the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned 
such civil disturbances were likely.
"Social unrest may happen in many countries - including advanced 
economies," as a result of the crisis, he said at the time.

Hungary next?
Estonia could also be hit by the unrest, despite holding relatively 
high currency reserves, and Hungary is "deeply unstable," the expert 
warned.
"While Hungary has not hit the headlines in recent weeks, this is 
only because the country hasn't really stopped having riots since 
2006.  [!!!] It keeps coming back sporadically. During national 
holidays, there has been street fighting regularly since 2006."

In Hungary, as in Greece - where a police shooting sparked violent 
protests in December - the riots have unique domestic political 
reasons that combine with the wider economic background, Ms Bohle 
explained.
"In Hungary's case, it was the prime minister's being caught lying 
that social supports could continue and then delivering an austerity 
package," she said.
"[There is] a mistrust and lack of legitimacy in the government. On 
top of this is the existence of the far right, which may make it into 
parliament. Hungary is deeply politically unstable."