People walk past broken windows of a shop after riots in Riga January 14, 2009. Latvia's president, speaking after riots in the economically troubled nation, threatened on Wednesday to take steps to dissolve parliament if it failed soon to give people more rights to force early elections. President Valdis Zatlers said Tuesday night's violence, in which youths attacked parliament and then battled police with stones and bottles after an earlier peaceful anti-government demonstration, showed confidence in parliament at a low. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins (LATVIA)From The Guardian:
Riots and street battles are set to spread through Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states as inflation, unemployment and racism fuel tension, reports Jason Burke.
Eastern Europe is heading for a violent "spring of discontent", according to experts in the region who fear that the global economic downturn is generating a dangerous popular backlash on the streets.
Hit increasingly hard by the financial crisis, countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states face deep political destabilisation and social strife, as well as an increase in racial tension.
Last week protesters were tear-gassed as they threw rocks at police outside parliament in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, in a protest against an austerity package including tax rises and benefit cuts.
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My Comment: Europe has a history of riots and social unrest when economic problems reach a certain degree .... this is one of those times.