Thousands protest in Vilnius against government party whose leader is on trial for antisemitism

By Andrius Sytas

More than 5,000 people protested next to the Lithuanian parliament on Thursday against election winners the Social Democrats entering into a parliamentary coalition with a party whose leader is on trial accused of antisemitic statements.

The Social Democrats took control of 86 seats in the 141-member parliament after forming a coalition with the Nemunas Dawn and For Lithuania parties. Members were sworn-in on Thursday.

Nemunas Dawn party founder and head Remigijus Zemaitaitis resigned from parliament in April, ahead of an impeachment vote, after the Constitutional Court ruled he had broken his oath by stirring up hatred against Jews in social media posts last year.

Crowds gathered in freezing rain outside the parliament on Thursday applauded as the speakers called on the Social Democrats to end the coalition with Nemunas Dawn.

"I think it's important to everyone who is thinking about the future of Lithuania and its geopolitical situation,” writer Justinas Zilinskas, the organiser, told Reuters.

Tauras, one of the protesters, said: "This is the day of national shame for Lithuania".

Zemaitaitis, went on trial in September accused of "attempting to create hostility and provoking intolerance towards Jews", and with playing down the Holocaust in Lithuania.

He has said his posts were not antisemitic and has denied wrongdoing.

He was fourth in the presidential election in May, and his party is the third largest grouping in the parliament, with 20 seats.

Social Democrat deputy leader and its designated prime ministerial candidate Gintautas Paluckas said he believed the protesters are disputing the election result, not the coalition.

"The people have spoken... Please allow us to form a government and demonstrate with our deeds that the dissatisfaction is probably baseless," Paluckas told reporters in the parliament after the protest.

The coalition agreement allows Nemunas Dawn to nominate the heads of three of the government's 14 ministries, among them the justice ministry.

Lithuania’s semi-executive president, Gitanas Nauseda, told parliamentarians, without mentioning Nemunas Dawn, that “incitements to hate” threatened security of the country.

He has previously called the coalition a mistake, and pledged to not appoint anyone related to Nemunas Dawn to the cabinet.

Nearly all of Lithuania's Jewish community of about 200,000 people were shot by Nazi Germans during World War II and buried in mass graves. Former Lithuanian president Algirdas Brazauskas apologised in Israel’s parliament in 1995 for the fact that some Lithuanians contributed to the killings.

The new government is expected to be sworn into office in December.