Jurij Osipov, a member of the group Mother Tongue, which initiated the referendum, says it collected 180,000 signatures in favor of adopting Russian as a second official language.
Tension surrounds Latvian vote on Russian as 2nd language →
The group's demand is symbolic - a protest against policies that discriminate against ethnic Russians and "to start a discussion on human rights," he said.
Tension surrounds Latvian vote on Russian as 2nd language →
