As years of economic boom turn to bust, the EU's Baltic states are facing a groundswell of public discontent that has sparked violent street protests. Anger at austerity drives aimed at tackling the economic crisis, coupled with withering confidence in their governments, fuelled clashes this week in Latvia and Lithuania.
"It says something about the anger in these countries. In the Baltics you haven't seen such anger since the end of communism" in 1991, Lars Christensen, chief economist at Danske Bank, told AFP. On Friday in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, 7,000 people attended a trade union rally against measures including public sector pay cuts and hikes in Value Added Tax.
Most protested peacefully, but several hundred clashed with riot police, hurling smoke bombs, snowballs and stones and trying to enter parliament, before officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets. There were at least 40 arrests and a dozen injuries. In Latvia, hundreds of people from a rally of 10,000 had Tuesday brawled with riot police. Around 100 were arrested and dozens hurt.
The strife echoes clashes in other members of the 27-nation EU, such as Greece and ex-communist Bulgaria. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the EU in 2004, 13 years after independence from the crumbling Soviet Union.
They posted spectacular growth rates as rising living standards fuelled robust consumption. Output in Latvia, for example, grew 12.2 percent in 2006, topping the EU table. After the party came the hangover. Double-digit inflation and tighter credit rules dented consumption, then the global crisis hit.
In the third quarter of 2008, Latvia saw the EU's sharpest economic dive. Output fell 4.6 percent, and is thought to have shrunk 8-10 percent in the fourth quarter. Overall, the economy is believed to have contracted by 1.5-2.0 percent in 2008 - final data are yet to be released - and is expected to shrink by 5.0-8.0 percent this year according to the authorities and independent economists.