Police visited anti-racism protest organisers before rally

Several organisers of an anti-racism protest received visits and official warnings from police on the eve of the event, LRT reported. The activists said they were not given a clear explanation and suspected they had been monitored. Police said they had information about people who might provoke incidents and described the warnings as preventive, not a ban on attending.

The visits took place before an October 3 protest organised by several groups in response to an anti-migration demonstration by Nacionalinis susivienijimas. Organisers had urged participants to avoid conflict. Both protests ended without major incidents.

Emilis Starodubovas, head of the May 1 Trade Union, told LRT that officers came to his home in Kaunas at about 10 p.m. on the eve of the protest. They showed him a document titled “Official warning about conduct contrary to the interests of society or its members” and asked him to sign it.

Starodubovas said he did not understand what the warning concerned. The officers told him they could not comment further, adding that he might have been “very active in the public sphere.” The document did not specify any alleged breach, leaving that section blank, but said he could face administrative or criminal liability for “dangerous” or “inappropriate” conduct.

He said signing the partly completed document frightened him and that he initially wondered whether the visitors were impersonating police officers. As it was late, he could not get information from the police station. On Monday, he was told he was not suspected of an offence.

Several representatives of the organisation Solidarumo grandis, who asked not to be identified, also reported police visits in Vilnius. They said some people had been warned not to attend the protests. One man said officers approached him outside around midday and asked to speak indoors, away from others. He said he let them in because he feared he could be fined.

Police said they had received information about possible provocations. The anti-racism counter-protest was organised by the left-wing groups Antifa, Solidarumo grandis, the Vilnius Anarchist Union and Fridays for Future Lithuania.