Marathon Pundit's wife is a native of Latvia, and his mother-in-law lives in Riga, where President Bush spoke Saturday. According to my wife, on the Latvian news sites and message boards, there was big talk about massive protests against Bush in the days leading up to his visit.
Well, according to my mother in-law (who told this to my wife, I don't speak Latvian), there were just 20 protesters. They were camped out at the Hotel Latvija, where Bush was staying.
All of them were arrested, but my mother-in-law didn't know what the charges were.
The information my mother in-law got came from Latvian news radio.
As for Bush's speech in Latvia, I think it's safe to say this, it can be called "historic."
(Added 5/10/05. I learned from my wife's best friend--who still lives in Latvia--that the first family actually stayed at the Radisson in Riga, on the south bank of the Daugava River. The Old City, where Bush spoke, is on the north bank, as is the Hotel Latvija. But the arrests of the protesters did occur at the Hotel Latvija. The Secret Service, because of it's relative remoteness, undoubtedly chose the Radisson as the "Latvian White House" for a day.)
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