Barricades Defenders Remembrance Day


1991 Barricades Defenders Remembrance Day is a Latvian remembrance day observed each year on 20 January. Created as a commemoration day by law in 1997, the date honors the civilians who defended The Barricades in Riga during January 1991, when Riga's OMON unit and other occupying units attempted to forcibly re-impose the Soviet Union's illegal subjugation on Latvia after the Baltic States' declaration of the restoration of independence a year earlier.

Background

On 20 January 1991, five people were shot dead and 13 injured in an attack by USSR forces who attacked barricades constructed by citizens as a form of non-violent resistance against the illegal Soviet occupation. The Barricades are a key moment in Latvian national consciousness when the Popular Front of Latvia, with the broad support of citizens, foiled those who were seeking to continue the repression of Latvian independence and continue the illegal occupation of the Baltic states.