V.E. Day in Riga

There weren't many Latvians out commemorating the end of the Second World War and their liberation by the Soviet Union yesterday, but thousands of ethnic-Russians (and a few hundred riot police) congregated at the Victory Monument in Pardaugava. What started as an austere event - covering the steps in flowers and remembering the dead in silence - became a drunken knees-up after dark, the fireworks and shouts of Rush-ee-ya, Rush-ee-ya feeling more like a show of strength than a mark of respect.