Over a thousand Latvian Nazi veterans have marched in the city of Riga to commemorate their fellow World War II comrades.

The relatively peaceful march was endured in freezing conditions by the veterans, all in their late 80's and 90's.

Many bystanders cheered them on as they headed for Riga's Freedom Monument at the centre of town to lay flowers as a tribute to fallen comrades.

Large numbers of police had to guard the veterans, who were heckled by a band of protestors who objected to the march being used to commemorate the 140,000 men who joined the Latvian Legion in 1943 to fight for the Third Reich.

The demonstrators were heard to shout:"Nazis get out of Latvia."

The city's council had attempted this year to ban the annual procession due to it having former SS officers present, but the ban was overturned at the last minute.

Latvia has a large Russian population whose relatives fought for the Soviet Union during the war.