1,000 Lithuanians Rally in L.A. to Support Homeland : Secession: Activists protest ‘Soviet occupation’ of the republic. They call on the U.S. to increase pressure on Gorbachev.

Nearly 1,000 Lithuanian activists thronged outside the Federal Building in Westwood on Sunday to protest increased Soviet pressure on their homeland to renounce its declaration of independence.

As Lithuanian community leaders exhorted the Soviet Union to permit independence in the Baltic republic, demonstrators torched the Soviet flag, chanted anti-Gorbachev slogans and hoisted signs denouncing “Soviet occupation” of their country.

Speakers also criticized President Bush for playing what they see as too limited a role in the republic’s efforts to win freedom.

“We are protesting the Bush Administration’s silence and refusal to give diplomatic representation to the Lithuanian government,” said Tony Mazeika, the director of the Baltic American Freedom League.

Mazeika said that Lithuanian activists are incensed over several bilateral trade agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union.

“(Soviet President Mikhail S.) Gorbachev needs those agreements,” he said. “He needs them to stay in power. They are very crucial. But the Lithuanian people need to be free.”

On March 11, the republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union, which annexed Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1940. Estonia has pledged to join the Baltic independence movement, and Latvia is expected to follow suit.

On Saturday night, Gorbachev urged the republic to renounce its declaration of independence and negotiate with the Kremlin within provisions of the Soviet constitution.

The Lithuanian government has shown no willingness to back down, however, and in Westwood, demonstrators cheered that stance and vowed that Lithuanians would withstand any Soviet efforts to deny the tiny Baltic state its freedom.

“The Lithuanians are determined in their hearts to do everything in their means to gain independence,” said Lithuanian national Arvydas Jakeliunas, who arrived Sunday in Los Angeles to visit relatives. “The troops are working on them psychologically, but they are determined not to let this stop them.”

The Lithuanians, who were joined in their protest here by small bands of Armenians and Estonians, called on the United States to step up pressure on the Soviet Union.

“We’re trying to get as many Americans as we can to demand freedom for Lithuania,” said Aldona Venckunas, who fled Lithuania in 1950 with her family to escape what she called Soviet repression. “We want Bush to support us in stronger words and economic sanctions. We don’t want any ‘favored nations’ trade agreement with the Soviet Union.”