Latvia joined neighboring Lithuania on Friday in banning the Communist Party, and officials in both Baltic republics predicted there would be a backlash by Soviet forces that had supported the coup. No violence was reported.
Later, the two republics and their Baltic neighbor, Estonia, planned to light a series of bonfires to mark the anniversary of the signing of a secret agreement in 1939 under which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided the then-independent Baltic republics.The Baltic republics have reasserted their independence following the Soviet coup's failure by seizing Communist Party property and retaking buildings vacated by Soviet troops.
The coup leaders had singled out the Baltics for especially harsh treatment. The coup leaders concentrated on seizing media facilities in an effort to cut the republics off from the outside world and control the flow of information to the people.
In Riga, the Latvian capital, Parliament voted to outlaw the Communist Party and nationalize its property. Its workers immediately began evacuating the party headquarters.
Lithuanian Interior Ministry officials suspended publication of Soviet and Communist Party newspapers in the region after banning the party Thursday, the official Soviet news agency Tass reported.
Tension remained over the possibility of countermeasures by Soviet authorities. Latvian officials in Riga posted militia units around the parliament to prevent new attacks by Soviet troops.
In Washington, envoys from the three Baltic states formally asked the State Department on Thursday to recognize their independence. President Bush indicated strong sympathy but suggested formal recognition would be premature.
"What I see is an opportunity to accelerate the talks that would lead to independence," he said in Maine.