Daily Baltic News Wednesday—November 14, 2001 RIGA (BNS-CITY PAPER ) Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said the media, especially in Britain, had over-dramatized a widely covered incident in which a 16-year-old girl slapped Prince Charles with a flower in Latvia. Alina Lebedeva, who said she was protesting the war in Afghanistan, hit Charles across the face with a carnation during the prince's visit to Riga last week; pictures of the incident were splashed across many British dailies the next day. "You know, media, especially the British press loves incidents," she was quoted as telling Latvian Radio. "They get bored when things are calm. Anything that can be dramatized and presented in a negative light in particular, is perceived with great rupture. But I do not think that this dramatization will have any material affect on Latvia's image." She added that Prince Charles had taken the incident "with a truly British reserve." "It was a matter of seconds. In fact, it was just a minor incident. Most of the people who stood there did not notice a thing... The prince sort of flinched at the moment but immediately stepped forward again ... continuing to talk to children as if nothing had happened. His response was very cool and he kept talking to these children in a truly British reserve," said the Latvian president. "He asked me not to worry about it personally and said that entire our nation also should not feel guilty over this incident," she said.        Despite the president's comments, Latvian police appeared to take the affair very seriously, jailing the girl and then charging her with endangering the life of a high official; if convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 15 yeas in prison. (lifted off Baltic News Service) back to Free Alina Lebedeva