President of Latvia honours the memory of Gustavs Zemgals

On 12 August at the Riga Forest Cemetery in honour of the memory of Gustavs Zemgals President of Latvia Egils Levits, the highest officials of Latvia and Zemgals’ great-grandson Mārtiņš Andersons together with his family laid flowers at the grave of the statesman.

President of Latvia Egils Levits noted: “On 18 November 1918 Gustavs Zemgals chaired the first sitting of the People’s Council of Latvia, at which the state of Latvia was proclaimed. A lesser known fact is that he was the first Latvian to be mayor of the City of Riga. Of course, his greatest achievement was serving as the second President of Latvia. Gustavs Zemgals carried on the democratic traditions introduced by the first President of Latvia Jānis Čakste, and Gustavs Zemgals played a crucial role in the creation of a democratic Latvia.”