Latvia's top security body, stung by a wave of international criticism, yesterday called for the sacking of the country's army commander for taking part in a controversial reunion of Latvian SS veterans.
The national security council, which includes the President and Prime Minister, also demanded the dismissal of the country's police chief after a synagogue was bombed on Thursday. Other senior police officers were formally reprimanded.
The SS meeting, including a parade through central Riga, was condemned in Russia and Israel.
The veterans argued they joined the Nazi fighting units not as fascists but as patriots to avert any return of Soviet occupation forces.
"The security council has unanimously agreed that [army] commander-in-chief Juris Dalbinsh and head of the police Aldis Lieljuksis can no longer stay in their posts," President Guntis Ulmanis said.
Parliament must approve the dismissal of Gen Dalbinsh while the cabinet can endorse the sacking of the police chief. Officials said both requests were likely to be met.
Mr Ulmanis this week criticised Gen Dalbinsh, army officers and members of parliament for taking part in the SS reunion after the Latvian government said it would not send any representatives to the events.
The SS commemoration was roundly condemned in Russia while Israel said it was puzzling and sad the reunion was allowed in a country where thousands of Jews were murdered in the second World War.
The Latvian SS men insist they were not war criminals and did not take part in the Holocaust. Critics say they still fought with the Third Reich, the killer of millions of Jews.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre welcomed the move to sack Gen Dalbinsh.
"It is a very wise and courageous step on the part of the government and we fully support it," said Mr Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's office in Israel.
"It is the right lesson to send the Latvian public that it would be irresponsible to allow a person to hold a position of such power if he identified in any way with individuals who supported the Third Reich's efforts in World War Two," he said.
The synagogue bombing early on Thursday blew out windows and damaged doors. No one has admitted responsibility for the attack on the synagogue, which was also bombed in May 1995.
Mr Lieljuksis was suspended on Thursday during the investigation for failing to ensure the synagogue's security after a swastika was daubed on its walls in December.
The Interior Minister, Mr Ziedonis Chevers, said that as well as sacking Mr Lieljuksis, the criminal police chief, Mr Aloizs Blonskis, and the Secretary of State at the Interior Ministry, Mr Andris Staris, were reprimanded, the most serious punishment next to dismissal.
"This explosion caused a wide and negative reaction in society and seriously harmed the international authority of the Latvian state," Mr Chevers said in a statement.
The Interior Minister said the officials had failed to carry out earlier orders and had not realised the synagogue was a potential target.