Antisemitism Row Draws Protesters as Lithuanian Lawmakers Gather

Milda Seputyte
·2-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Demonstrators gathered in Lithuania’s capital to protest the move by the Baltic nation’s Social Democrats to forge a coalition with a party whose leader is accused of making antisemitic remarks.

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Over 4,000 people gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Vilnius on Thursday, according to a police estimate, as newly elected lawmakers met for their first session. Hundreds more assembled in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second largest city.

The Social Democrats, who secured a victory in parliamentary elections last month, shrugged off mounting criticism to form a governing alliance with the populist Dawn of Nemunas party.

President Gitanas Nauseda has said the party’s decision to abandon a pre-election pledged not to work with the Dawn of Nemunas is a mistake, and warned that the alliance could tarnish Lithuania’s reputation among allies. The head of state said he’ll reject any minister nominated from the party, a pledge likely to complicate the formation of a coalition.

Gintautas Paluckas, the Social Democrats’ nominee to become the next prime minister, has pushed back against the criticism. He told reporters on Thursday that the new government will “prove and convince that there’s really nothing to be ashamed of.”

The controversy centers around Dawn of Nemunas founder and leader Remigijus Zemaitaitis, who’s the subject of a criminal case of inciting hatred. His incendiary social media attacks have referred to “Jews and Russians” who allegedly worked in the past to destroy Lithuania. The 42-year-old denies any wrongdoing.

“I’m offended by disrespectful, intolerant behavior of Zemaitaitis,” said Egle Sumskiene, a lecturer at Vilnius University, who attended the protest. “It’s even more offensive when a traditional, self-respecting party tramples on values, on common human principles.”

The organizer Thursday’s protest, Justinas Zilinskas, a writer, drew applause as he called on Paluckas to drop the coalition deal.

The decision has drawn condemnation from allies in the European Union and NATO, including the US and Germany. Earlier on Thursday, opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber when Zemaitaitis took his parliamentary oath.

The constitutional court ruled in May that he violated an oath in previous legislation by using anti-Semitic language in a Facebook post criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The issue has resonance in Lithuania, the vast majority of whose Jewish population perished in the Holocaust at the hands of German occupiers and Nazi collaborators during World War II.

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