Latvian president says gays must be protected

VIENNA, July 28 (Reuters) Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga has said her country had to protect homosexuals against attacks after gays were pelted with bags of excrement last week.

''Homosexuality is not a crime,'' Vike-Freiberga told Austrian newspaper Die Presse in an interview on Thursday. ''The state has the duty to protect those people against aggression.'' Gay pride participants were pelted with eggs and bags of excrement on Saturday as they left a service at the Anglican Lutheran church in the Latvian capital, Riga. They said police had failed to provide protection.

''The attacks against homosexuals are a new thing. We don't want to see them in our country. There is no excuse for them,'' said Vike-Freiberga, in Austria to receive an award. She blamed the attacks on church activists and a Russian sect.

The centre right controlling Riga city council banned a gay pride march and the decision was upheld by a court.

The European Union, the European Parliament and civil rights groups have criticised Poland and Latvia for banning gay pride marches and for worrying signs of growing homophobia, mainly in new EU members in central and eastern Europe.

REUTERS SK BST0443