Anti-War Latvian Girl Smacks Prince Charles

Thomas Seay entheogens at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 9 11:35:04 PST 2001


IGA, Latvia (AP) - A 16-year-old-girl who

slapped Prince Charles in the face with a red

carnation was formally charged Friday with

endangering the life of a high official.

Alina Lebedeva struck the prince with the

long-stemmed flower Thursday as he stopped

during a walk in downtown Riga to speak

with a group of children. ``I'm against the Afghan war,'' she said in

Russian to reporters as police took her away.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, but the

girl is likely to face only probation if convicted because of her age,

police spokeswoman Kristina Apse said. She was in police custody in

Riga, the capital.

A spokesman at St. James Palace, Prince Charles' London office, called

it ``an unfortunate but trivial incident which did not affect the Prince

of Wales.''

Prince Charles had stopped to talk with children waving British flags

when the thin, red-haired teen-ager, appearing calm, leaned over and

struck him. The girl turned and walked slowly away, saying, ``Britain's

the enemy of the world,'' as armed guards grabbed her and escorted

her to a police van.

The heir to the British throne flinched and looked startled but

continued chatting with some of the several hundred people who

turned out to see him.

President Vaira Vike-Freiberga later apologized on behalf of the

country.

Prince Charles began a tour of the region Monday to mark Britain's

recognition of Baltic independence from the Soviet Union a decade

ago. He came to Latvia after stops in Estonia and Lithuania and was

scheduled to leave the region later Friday.

===== "The tradition of all the dead generations

weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living"

-Karl Marx

__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list