Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Brits to Riga need to stop pissing on the Freedom Monument


Dear All

One of the biggest booms in recent years is Brits going abroad on stag parties to places such as Prague and Riga.

Unfortunately the ‘british’ disease goes with them.

Britons have been travelling on stag parties to the Latvian capital of Riga to get wrecked on cheap booze and have a good time.

However the Mayor of Riga will not be welcoming them with open arms due to their crass behaviour such as urinating in the street.

Riga is a fantastic city break destination but it has run out of patience with unruly Brits who don’t know how to act in foreign countries.

In troubled economic times Riga like other eastern european cities needs a booming tourist trade to help cope with the recession.

The biggest complaint is that British Tourists have urinated on Riga's Freedom Monument, which honours soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence.

In an unscripted humourous moment Mr Usakovs told Rigas Laiks magazine;

“If we also had other tourists, then British visitors who piss about all the time would not be as noticeable. Let's not be politically correct unfortunately, this is their speciality.”

The country's then interior minister, Mareks Seglins goes further and hit out at 'English pigs' for being a 'dirty, hoggish people'.

This outbrust came after a British tourist was sentenced to spend five days in prison when he was caught urinating on the monument.

The President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers has since condemned his negative comments.

In Glasgow, Scotland; the Scots don’t need Freedom Monuments to pee on as they tend to go up an alley out of the way, a wall does just fine.

Hopefully, the Brits will recognise that when travelling to cities of great culture to enjoy them that certain standards of behaviour are essential, good manners cost nothing and good will is everything.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

No comments: