Authorities in Latvia began dismantling a Soviet-era monument in the capital city of Riga on Tuesday after the country’s government agreed that communist monuments in public spaces should be removed.
The statue, which commemorates the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany, was erected in 1985 and stands like a high-rise in downtown Riga’s Victory Park. It has been cordoned off by police.
It is known officially as the “Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders” and unofficially as the “Victory Memorial” or “Moscow’s Finger” by locals.
Riga city’s Executive Director, Janis Lange, confirmed during a press conference on Monday that the monument will be bought down on Tuesday after its demolition was ordered by the Latvian Parliament in May, shortly before a law was passed granting the removal of Soviet-glorifying objects throughout the country….