Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimasius said an unsanctioned celebration of the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China will not take place in the Lithuanian capital.
"The event was not coordinated with anyone; a request for it has just been received," Šimasius said on Facebook late on Monday afternoon.
"The ads will be taken down today [and] the event will not take place," he added.
The ad campaign invited to celebrate the communist China's 70th anniversary near the White Bridge in the capital's center on October 1
"Such games won't work in our city, and it doesn't matter who is behind this – whether it is the world's largest country or an Indian Ocean island with a population of three people. The rules are the same for everyone," the mayor said.
Municipal administration officials told BNS on Monday that several posters advertising the firework display would be removed, because nobody had asked for a permission from the municipality's foreign and public affairs divisions to organise the event.
It’s a “geopolitical provocation and a test of boundaries,” Lithuanian MP Mantas Adomėna wrote on mocial media. “How much freedom are we willing to sell for Chinese economic influence?”
"If no permission is obtained but we see preparations for a fireworks display [...] the municipality's Public Order Division, together with the Lithuanian police, will ensure that public order is respected and laws are not violated," Vilnius Municipality's deputy administration director, Adomas Bužinskas, told LRT.lt.
Read more: Vilnius takes down ads after China promotes unsanctioned commemoration – 'it's a geopolitical provocation', says MP
