TALLINN, May 9 (RIA Novosti) - Estonian police
on Saturday removed a replica of the Bronze Soldier monument to
Soviet World War II dead from the central Tallinn square where
the original stood until two years ago.
The police press service said the two-meter-high
statue, made of light metal, was taken to a police station and
the artist who installed it on Tonismagi square had been
detained. It had not been decided if the woman would be charged.
Tallinn was hit by mass protests in late April 2007
after the Estonian authorities ordered the removal of the
Bronze Soldier monument from the city center. In the ensuing
riots, over 1,000 people were arrested, dozens injured and a
Russian national died.
Estonia's removal of the monument aggravated
relations with Russia, which has long criticized Tallinn for
discriminatory policies toward Russian speakers and leniency
toward Estonian Waffen-SS veterans.
The Estonian government considers the Soviet era a
period of illegal occupation.
The remains of the 11 Red Army soldiers buried under
the Bronze Soldier were reburied at their home towns at the
requests of their relatives.
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