Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (Riga) has been Attacked with a Molotov Cocktail

On the night of February 28, around 1.00 am, on the first floor of the Museum, the window of the office of the Director of the Museum Solvita Vība was smashed and an ignited bottle with a combustible mixture was thrown inside. 

The State Police and the State Fire and Rescue Service arrived at the scene and the fire was confined. 

No person has been physically injured in the attack, but the Museum's premises and equipment have been damaged.

On March 1, the State Police announced that the attacker had been detained, and on March 2, he was arrested. On March 3, the Riga City Court ordered the arrest of two more suspects.

This is clearly a targeted and planned attack not only on the Museum, but also on the very foundations of the Latvian Republic, its Constitution, the meaning of national identity and the truth. 

Since the Museum is included in the state protocol and regularly welcomes official guests visiting Latvia (heads of state, ambassadors, et al.), the attack on the Museum carries with it a symbolic message – an attempt to silence the narrator of Latvian history.

For 30 years, the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia has revealed the two occupying powers – the Soviet Union and the National Socialist Germany. The Museum will stand firm and expose the crimes of these regimes regardless of repeated provocations and attacks by the enemies of freedom and democracy.

This is not the first attack on the Museum. In 2023, shots were fired at the windows of the Museum, in 2022, the flagpole next to the Museum was damaged and its Ukrainian flag was stolen. Windows have been smashed several times at the Museum's exhibition in the Corner House (former KGB building). 

Recently, the Museum has received a great deal of assurance of support. We appreciate the endorsement and solidarity expressed by various local and international partners, friends, and sponsors. Upholding the values of the free world is our common duty which we share with similar institutions in Latvia and abroad.