Latvian President Valdis Zatlers on Monday slammed the vandalism of a monument to a man who saved dozens of Jews during World War II, just a week after an attack on a Jewish cemetery.
In a statement, Zatlers said he "categorically condemned" the assault on the central Riga monument which honours the late Zanis Lipke and others who stopped Jews from falling into the clutches of the occupying Nazi Germans and local collaborators.
"Zanis Lipke is a man who deserved people's admiration, respect and love," Zatlers said. "Last night's vandalism completely contradicts that."
Riga police said that the monument had been found spattered with white paint in the early hours of Monday.
Foreign Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis also condemned the attack.
"Zanis Lipke's memory is held in high esteem in Latvia," he said in a statement. "Such acts of vandalism must not be allowed to occur again."
Police said they had not found any immediate evidence to link the incident to an attack last week on Riga's Jewish cemetery, where white swastikas were painted on 89 tombstones.
Police are still probing the cemetery desecration, which was also condemned by Zatlers and government leaders.
Dock labourer Lipke rescued around 50 Jews during the war.
After the Nazis occupied Latvia in July 1941, he found work with the German air force. Taking advantage of that cover, he smuggled Jews to various hideouts where many remained until Soviet troops arrived in October 1944.
In 1966, he was granted the title of Righteous Among Nations -- conferred by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial authority on non-Jews who saved Jews during the war. He died in 1987.
Around 85,000 Jews lived in pre-war Latvia.
While some were able to flee before German troops arrived, 70,000 were murdered in the country by the Nazis and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in occupied Europe.
Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia.
Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers some 10,000 in a country of 2.2 million.
The Lipke monument, unveiled in 2007, is etched with his portrait, and also commemorates 260 less well-known Latvian rescuers by name.
It lies near the site of the city's synagogue, which was blown up by the Germans on July 4, 1941 with the worshippers still inside.