That's better....

(Riga) A Latvian court on Friday overturned an order from the country's Prime Minister banning a gay pride march scheduled for Saturday.

The march had been approved by the city council in the Baltic nation's capital but on Wednesday Erik Shkapars, the executive director of Riga City, withdrew his permission. (story)

Shkapars said he made the decision following criticism of the event by Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis.

Kalvitis said that holding a gay procession near the Riga Dom Cathedral - the 13th century cathedral in downtown Riga - was a sacrilege.

The Gay and Lesbian Support Group, the organizer of the pride event, went to court. A judge Friday ruled that Riga City authorities had failed to demonstrate adequate grounds for withdrawing the original permit.

The judge said that the ban would have been a blatant violation of Latvia 's human rights obligations both as a member of the European Union, and under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The full judgment will be published on August 1.

" It is encouraging that the Latvian court has upheld the rights of the LGBT community in the face of such pressure from the Prime Minister," said Deborah Lambillotte International Lesbian and Gay Association Board Member for Europe.

The march will go ahead Saturday as planned, but there are concerns for the safety of marchers. Open threats have been made to break up the march and a counter-demonstration by an extreme right-wing nationalist organization has been authorized

"Given the way in which the Latvian authorities have given in to homophobic demands, we are concerned for the safety of the marchers, and call on the government to take all measures to protect them," said ILGA Riccardo Gottardi co-chair.

The ban was the fourth attempt by authorities in East Europe this year to prevent Pride marches taking place, but the first initiated by a national government figure. The previous attempts, in Moldova , Romania and Poland , were all instigated by city mayors.

In June, the mayor of Warsaw banned gay pride from the Polish capital city. Despite the edict more than 2,500 people marched anyway