Latvia’s most famous monument has been fenced off amid fears that England fans could urinate on it.
British tourists have previously been jailed for relieving themselves on Riga’s Freedom Monument, which honours soldiers killed in Latvia’s fight for independence from Russia.
With 2,500 Three Lions supporters in the city for Tuesday night’s World Cup qualifier, Riga council have warned residents that ‘England football fans are known for their loud and emotional behaviour’ and urged them to report disorder to police.
British tourists have had a bad reputation in the Baltic state since Riga became a hotspot for stag and hen parties because of the rise of budget airlines and relatively cheap beer and hotel prices earlier this century.
Then Latvian Interior Minister Mareks Seglins hit out at ‘English pigs’ for being a ‘dirty, hoggish people’ after a 34-year-old man from London was locked up for urinating on the Freedom Monument in 2008. A year earlier, a 23-year-old Scot was detained after clambering on to it and pulling up his kilt to expose himself.
Riga’s mayor has previously complained that boozy Brits were putting off other tourists from visiting the city.
‘If we also had other tourists, then British visitors who p*** about all the time would not be as noticeable,’ said Nils Usakovs, then the mayor, in 2009. ‘Let’s not be politically correct – unfortunately, this is their speciality.’
His spokesperson added: ‘The British first started to make bachelor parties and the most popular thing was using our Freedom Monument as a toilet.
‘We have a stigma about British tourists. They are probably not the ones we want to see.’
The 138ft Freedom Monument has been likened to New York’s Statue of Liberty and is a popular tourist attraction and ceremonial location in central Riga, but fences began to appear around it on Monday.
Riga council said this was to ‘ensure public order and safety’ and that the site would be guarded by police.
They added: ‘England football fans are known for their loud and emotional behaviour, which often pushes the limits of public order. Therefore, residents are being urged to report any violations or disturbances to the police.’
England will seal qualification for the World Cup if they beat a struggling Latvia side who could only muster a 2-2 draw at home to Andorra on Saturday.
With Latvia lagging behind its Baltic neighbours in terms of having a modern outdoor sports stadium, the match will be held at the 10,500-capacity Daugava Stadium, which is lined by trees down one side of the ground and has a large running track around the pitch.
Even Latvia’s players don’t like to play there, according to captain Antonijs Cernomordijs, and would rather return to the Skonto Stadium, which is a more traditional football ground and regularly hosted matches before no longer meeting UEFA standards.
‘All the players would, of course, choose to play at the Skonto Stadium,’ said Cernomordijs. ‘It’s harder to catch the feeling of football at the Daugava Stadium. The fans are too far away, there’s a running track around, but hopefully the stadium will be full and the atmosphere will help us.’
