Prime Latvian Minister Einars Repse announced Thursday that his 14-month-old government was stepping down, saying his Cabinet can't continue working without a majority in parliament.  

The turmoil followed a victory for Repse earlier in the day when parliament passed a law requiring public schools to teach mainly in Latvian -- angering thousands of Russian students who staged a noisy protest in the capital.

Repse's government was thrown into turmoil last week when one of the parties making up his center-right government, Latvia's First, resigned, leaving it without a legislative majority with just 45 out of 100 seats in parliament.

"The prime minister chose now to resign because he doesn't think it possible to work in a minority government," said Guntars Gute, a spokesman for Repse's New Era Party. "He will continue running this country until parliament is ready to elect a new government."

The current government under Repse will continue leading the Baltic country of 2.3 million people until a new one can be formed. Stitching together any new coalition from the fractured parliament would be difficult, as none of the eight parties holds a majority. Repse's New Era is the biggest, with just 26 seats.

The government crisis was unrelated to the controversy over school reform, which sparked one of the largest demonstrations in recent Latvian history.

About 6,000 Russian teenagers and children protested outside parliament after lawmakers approved the measure that forces public schools -- including those with all-Russian student bodies -- teach mainly in Latvian.

Hundreds of children waved mostly Russian-language placards, one reading, "Don't twist our arms. Let us speak Latvian voluntarily!" The crowd chanted "Hands off our school" and "No to the reforms" in Russian.

The new law mandates that at least 60 percent of classes in public schools, even those catering to the large Russian-speaking minority, must be taught in Latvian starting in September.

After several hours of heated debate, with many ethnic-Russian deputies speaking in opposition, the 100-seat Saeima overwhelmingly approved the legislation, 71-25. Other deputies either were absent or abstained.

Partly to counterbalance the imposed dominance of Russian in many areas during decades of rule by Moscow, the Baltic state declared Latvian the sole official language after it regained independence amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

That decision, and other steps taken to entrench Latvian, has angered Latvia's Russian speakers -- mostly ethnic Russians -- who make up more than a third of the country's 2.3 million residents. The language rule for schools has been among the most controversial of reforms.

Russians call the requirements discriminatory and say they are an attack on their way of life -- charges echoed by Moscow. Latvians counter that they are meant to help integrate minorities, adding that those who don't learn Latvian will find it hard to secure good jobs.

"The reforms will enable more of these students to get more involved in all the affairs of the Latvian state -- to become civil servants, get elected to the parliament, and to participate in all aspects of Latvian political life," argued parliamentarian Guntars Krasts.

But Boris Cilevics, a legislator of Russian descent, said the government has pressed relentlessly on with the reform, paying complaints no heed.

"The government can't be trusted," he said. "The government does not want to take part in a dialogue. The only dialogue they understand is rude street protests."

Thursday's demonstration was mostly peaceful, though police said they arrested two protesters for throwing snowballs at a policeman and the nearby presidential palace.

The Kremlin has accused Latvia of violating the rights of minorities, and the question has been a major irritant in bilateral relations. Latvia, in turn, says Russia is manipulating the issue in a bid to spoil Latvia's image abroad.

Latvia, along with neighboring Lithuania and Estonia, is set to join the European Union in May. The EU has said Latvian language laws conform to European minority rights standards.

(China Daily February 6, 2004)