Belarus on Monday expelled the entire staff of Latvia's embassy, including the ambassador, the foreign minister said, after Latvian authorities used a Belarusian opposition flag at an ice hockey championship. The move comes as ex-Soviet Belarus is under fire from European leaders for forcing a European passenger flight carrying an opposition activist to land in the capital Minsk on Sunday. Latvia's ambassador to Belarus, Einars Semanis, was summoned to the Belarusian foreign ministry on Monday for "insulting the national flag", state-run news agency Belta reported. "A strong protest was expressed to the ambassador in connection with the situation," Belta quoted Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei as saying. "The ambassador was asked to leave Belarus within 24 hours. The entire diplomatic and administrative staff of the embassy was also asked to leave Belarus within 48 hours," Makei said. He added that one member of administrative staff could stay to take care of the embassy building. The Latvian capital Riga was named the sole host of the 2021 ice hockey world championship after Belarus was banned from co-hosting the tournament that kicked off on May 21. Earlier Monday, Riga mayor Martins Stakis said the Belarus national flag at the championship was replaced with a white-red-white flag of the opposition. "A flag symbolising a regime engaged in state terrorism does not belong in Riga -- so we took it down" Stakis said on Twitter. Belarus's long-serving President Alexander Lukashenko and his allies have been put under sanction by the European Union and the United States for his crackdown on protests that erupted after a presidential vote last August. During several months of demonstrations that have since faded, opponents demanded the resignation of the 66-year-old president saying the election was rigged. tk-acl/mm/bp