The conflict between the Latvian government and the mayor of Daugavpils is heating up. The ministers demand from the municipal authorities to destroy Soviet monuments. The mayor's office responds that the city has much more pressing needs. The mayor believes that spending 300 thousand euros on the war on memory is a crime against local residents:
The minister suggests that Daugavpils should refuse municipal support for planned operations (so that the elderly did not live to see the retirement).
- refuse the support of municipalities for patients' contributions to hospital costs (People should not be treated, but just die at home).
- refuse the support of the disabled and adaptation of the urban environment for them.
- refuse the support for young doctors.
The rebellious mayor is being threatened with dismissal from Riga. He responds by reminding them that he was elected by the people of the city, and therefore is accountable to them, not to the politicians in the capital. This is not the first conflict between the mayor and government officials: so far he has managed to come out the winner, but now it is a strategy of principle for the authorities - to erase the memory of the victory over Nazism. Here, democracy is likely to be put aside for a while.












