The Lithuanian Family Movement, which organised several anti-LGBT and anti-vaccination rallies last year, is planning another event this Saturday.
The planned rally is to take place in Cathedral Square in Vilnius.
The municipality has issued a permit for an event of 15,000 people. The rally is entitled “Let’s Defend the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania”.
Raimondas Grinevičius, the leader of the Family Movement, told BNS that the event will mark the Constitution Day on October 25 and the 34th anniversary of the founding of Sąjūdis, a movement that sought Lithuania’s independence from the USSR.
According to Grinevičius, the organisers seek to protect the constitution, although more specific demands of the rally will be released later.
“If you read the constitution, practically every second articles is inoperative. Nothing can be singled out at the moment – neither family policy, nor education or healthcare. In practice, the constitution has become null and void,” said Grinevičius.
He says he does not know whether the event can attract the 15,000 people, but expects a large turnout.
“Our expectations depend on whether people are satisfied or not with the current situation. We cannot influence people, it is up to them to decide whether it is better to sit on the sofa or to do something,” according to Grinevičius.
The Lithuanian Family Movement was set up ahead of the Big Family Defence March organised in May 2021 in protest of moves to legislate same-sex partnership and ratify the Istanbul Convention. The organisation is also linked to a notorious rally in August 2021 which deteriorated into a riot near the parliament building. The event protested the government’s Covid-19 vaccination policies.
The Family Movement mulled running in next year’s municipal elections. However, Grinevičius says the new tightened rules for setting up political committees made it “practically impossible”.
The association deciced to cooperate with four political parties in the elections: the Lithuanian Peasant and Green Union (LVŽS), the Christian Party, the Party of Regions and the Nation and Justice.
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