MP's Twitter goof marks World Refugee Day

Take note – story published 7 years ago

A veteran Latvian member of parliament on Monday managed two combine two current Baltic bugbears in one unfortunate social media post: namely, the ongoing refugee crisis and the equally ongoing debate about misinformation in the Baltic media space.

Aleksandrs Kirsteins, a member of the nationalist National Alliance political grouping which is one of three parties in the current ruling coalition, and secretary of the Saeima's European Affairs Commission, is known as a staunch opponent of Latvia taking in refugees from other countries.

However he appeared to overstep the bounds of informed debate Sunday when he tweeted a picture of black youths apparently destroying a police car, along with the sarcastic comment: "Refugees are a big opportunity for Latvia - scientists, doctors, engineers..."

However,a  simple Google search reveals the picture is not of refugees at all, but is taken from riots in the US city of Baltimore in 2015 and was taken by photographer Chip Somodevilla for Getty Images/AFP.

Twitter followers picked up on the goof on Monday - which by unhappy coincidence is designated World Refugee Day by the United Nations - but by 4 p.m. there was still no sign of a correction or retraction.

Meanwhile the European Parliament has produced interactive statstics about the refugee situation in each EU member state which can be viewed via an interactive graphic HERE

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