The Belarusian national flag was replaced in the center of Riga by this.
@MStakis, Twitter
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The 71-year-old Swiss, who has headed the IIHF for 27 years, sent an official letter to Stakis and Riga City Council calling for the immediate removal of the IIHF flag and the 2021 World Cup flag, which also featured the IIHF logo posted at the Radisson Blu Latvija Conference & Spa.
“We have sent a letter to the mayor of Riga. His actions (with the withdrawal of the Belarusian national flag) are unacceptable to us. We will definitely not change flags in hockey halls. At the same time, we are asking to withdraw the flags of the championship and the IIHF from those places (in Riga) where they exchanged (Belarusian) flags, “Fasel said, adding that the IIHF is an apolitical sports organization.
In Riga, during the World Cup, they removed the Belarusian national flag! They replaced it with the one used by Lukashenko’s opponents
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As an alternative, he offered Stakis the opportunity to return the Belarusian national flag to the flagpole in front of the hotel, which the mayor of Riga and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevich removed on Monday and replaced with historic Belarus used by opponents of the regime of local President Alexander Lukashenko.
The President of IIHF demands the restoration of the previous flags in Riga instead of the white-red-white flags of freedom of Belarus. Otherwise, the removal of the IIHF flags is required. Everyone has to choose a side – a people thirsting for freedom or a bloody dictator. At Mr Fas’s request, let us remove the IIHF flags. pic.twitter.com/k2YR0bieUL
– Mārtiņš Staķis (@MStakis) May 25, 2021
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In response, Stakis announced on his Twitter account that all IIHF flags would be removed from the streets of Riga. By contrast, the historic white flags of Belarus will remain.
“Everyone must choose their side: people longing for freedom, or a bloody dictator. We decided to remove the IIHF flags, “Stakis wrote.
Together with Mayor of Riga @MStakis we raised ⬜️????⬜️ flag in the center of Riga, we stand with the people of #Belarus #FreePratasevich #StandWithBelarus #LiveBelarus pic.twitter.com/0vQntXWmvQ
– Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) May 24, 2021
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“The IIHF does not agree with the actions of the Mayor of Riga and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, who used the flag of the World Cup participant as an opportunity to express their political opinion. The actions of the Belarusian government are separate from the players fighting under the Belarusian flag in the tournament. Belarusian hockey players have been welcomed as guests in Latvia and should not see such treatment with their national flag, “the IIHF said in a statement.
Statement from IIHF on the removal of the Belarusian flag in from public displays in Riga: https://t.co/G0ObC0PL8L pic.twitter.com/QIqqkw9BKn
– IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 25, 2021
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Minsk and Riga were originally supposed to share the organization of this year’s championship. Due to the tense socio-political situation in Belarus and mass protests against President Lukashenko’s regime, the International Hockey Federation decided to remove its co-organization from Belarus in January. The Belarusian authorities’ move on Monday, forcing a Ryanair plane to land from Athens to Vilnius in Minsk to arrest journalists and criticize Belarusian leader Raman Pratasevich, also provoked strong negative reactions in the world.
Ice Hockey World Championship 2021
The World Hockey Championship is in progress from May 21 to June 6 in Latvia. All group matches and play off hosts Riga. The Czech national team plays in group A. Zlato from 2019 defends the selection of Finland, the Czechs will try to improve the fourth place.
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