Waving Lithuanian flags and chanting "shame, shame," about 150 people picketed the Soviet Embassy in downtown Washington yesterday to protest the Soviet crackdown in the Baltic state.
Demonstrators have sporadically marched in front of the building on 16th Street NW for days, but yesterday's protest was the largest since a military assault on the Lithuanian broadcast center killed 13 people last week. Soviets now control key buildings in the rebellious state capital of Vilnius. President Bush said Friday he "expressed . . . deep concern" to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev about the Baltic situation, but yesterday's demonstrators asked Bush to do more.
Protest organizers said they want the United States to send a fact-finding delegation to Lithuania, reimpose restrictions on trade with the Soviets and curtail economic aid.
"Our goal is immediate {diplomatic} recognition of the country" of Lithuania, said Remigijus Balcinas, of Baltimore's Free Lithuania Committee. The United States has never formally recognized Soviet annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1940. But so far, the State Department has not recognized the Lithuanian government that declared independence last year.
Annandale resident Arius Kaufmann, 21, carried a sign that read, "Revoke Gorby's Nobel." Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
"Dictators like to make it look like there are freedoms in their countries. This {protest} will send a message that we're not fooled," Kaufmann said.
Busloads of protesters came from Baltimore and Philadelphia, which have substantial Lithuanian American populations. Yellow, red and green flags abounded. One poster showed Bart Simpson with a Lithuanian headband.
The protesters expressed frustration that the Persian Gulf War has usurped America's attention. Shouts from a pro-Bush demonstration at the Iraqi Embassy could be heard in the distance whenever the Lithuanians' chants of "Gorby and Hussein, both the same" died down.
"The American people must divide their attention between two historic events," said Arlington resident Marcin Zmudzki, a Polish citizen who went to the Soviet Embassy protest to show solidarity with the Lithuanians. "The more we protest," he said, "the better chance for Lithuania's democracy."