Flag scandal in Riga: The Ice Hockey World Cup has a scandal

The name Martin Stakis is probably familiar to very few ice hockey fans. But suddenly the mayor of Riga is on everyone's lips. He opposed not only the Belarusian government in Minsk, but also the World Ice Hockey Federation, which is hosting the World Cup in his own city. The reason for the excitement: a flag.

On Whit Monday, Stakis and the Latvian government made a statement. Together with Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, the mayor took down the official Belarusian flag (green-red) from the mast and hoisted the white-red-white former flag of Belarus. During the massive protests against Lukashenko last winter, the Belarusian opposition returned to the historic flag of Belrus. Since then, white and red have been considered the colors of the oppressed and the freedom movement in the Eastern European country, which is ruled with a hard hand by Lukashenko. Together with Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, the mayor of Riga raised the white-red-white flag.

Stakis was presented with the white and red flag by political refugees from Belarus with a request to replace it with the national flag. Stakis wrote about the campaign on social media: “We support the people of Belarus. The country's national flag represents state terror, so we replaced it. Free Belarus!” IIHF reacts angrily, but bounces back It didn't take long for the IIHF to respond. On Monday evening, a letter arrived at Riga City Hall signed by President Fasel and Canadian Vice President Luc Tardif. In it, the two call on the mayor to remove the white-red-white flag and hoist the national flag of Belarus again. “We were very surprised to hear about their actions and the political statements against IIHF member Belarus. We call on you to immediately raise the Belarusian national flag again. It is forbidden to associate the IIHF with political statements.” “We stand with people who strive for freedom and not a dictator. We will remove the IIHF flags.” Martin Stakis, Mayor of Riga But Stakis is not thinking of giving in to IIHF pressure – on the contrary. On Tuesday morning, the mayor of Riga announced: “The IIHF has asked us to replace the white-red-white flag with that of the regime - or to remove the IIHF flags. We have chosen a side. We stand with people who strive for freedom and not a dictator. We will remove the IIHF flags.” To this end, he made the letter from Fasel and Tardif public. Diplomatic scandal as a result Meanwhile, the flag gate has resulted in a diplomatic scandal. The Belarusian Foreign Minister expelled all embassy members from Latvia. The Latvian government followed suit and banned the Belarusian ambassadors from the country. Belarus recently forced a plane to land in Minsk in order to arrest blogger Roman Protasevich. The EU then closed all airports to Belarusian aircraft.

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Flag scandal in Riga: The Ice Hockey World Cup has a scandal

Renè Fasel already caused a stir in the winter by hugging Alexander Lukashenko, and now the head of the IIHF World Ice Hockey Federation has once again emphasized his closeness to the “last dictator in Europe” – and the Ice Hockey World Cup in Latvia has a flag gate.

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