Heavy machinery was spotted behind a green privacy fence at the foot of the nearly 80m (260ft) obelisk shortly before it was cut down. The pillar, which stood like a high-rise in the center of Riga, crashed into a nearby lake, causing a huge noise in Victory Park. A Latvian media outlet broadcast the event live as spectators, some with Latvian flags draped over their shoulders, cheered and clapped. The obelisk, consisting of five cones with three Soviet stars on top, stood between two groups of statues – a band of three Red Army soldiers and on the other side a woman representing the “Motherland” with her hands up. The monument was built in 1985 while Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union. It has caused controversy since Latvia regained its independence in 1991 and eventually became a member of NATO and the European Union. On Twitter, Latvia’s foreign minister said that by taking down the monument, Latvia was “closing another painful page in history and looking for a better future.” The country shares a 214 km (133 mi) border with Russia and has a large Russian population. On Russia’s annual Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet victory over Germany in World War II, people gathered in front of the Riga monument to lay flowers. Latvia’s parliament approved the demolition of the Victory Park monument in May, and Riga City Council followed suit. Work to remove the monument began three days ago with the removal of the statues. The area was then cordoned off and authorities issued a no-fly zone for drones. Police temporarily closed traffic near the park on Thursday, citing safety concerns. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February prompted authorities in several Eastern European countries to remove symbols from their communist era. The government of Poland — another country that was once part of the Soviet sphere — said Thursday that a monument in neighboring Belarus containing the graves of Polish soldiers who died during World War II is being razed by authorities. Belarus. Lukasz Jasina, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said on Twitter that the cemetery in Surkonty, where the Polish resistance fought Soviet forces, was being “destroyed by the services of the Minsk regime”. The development comes a day after Poland announced it was demolishing a monument to Soviet Red Army soldiers in Poland, one of dozens that have been labeled a disaster. Belarus has been a key ally of Moscow, while Poland, which sits on Ukraine’s western border, has supported Ukraine. Last week, Estonia removed a Soviet World War II monument from near a town on the Russian border as part of a wider effort to dismantle Soviet-era symbols. The replica tank was sent to a war museum north of Tallinn. In 2007, the relocation of a World War II monument to a Red Army soldier in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, sparked days of unrest.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine ___ Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this report.
