The Latvian authorities continue to demolish the monument to Riga's liberator warriors. All attempts not only to protest, but even to simply express disagreement with the vandalism, are immediately suppressed by the police. A total of about 40 people have already been detained, but this has not stopped hundreds of Riga residents from trying to stand up for their beloved monument:
The Russian embassy has offered to issue visas to the victims to travel if the authorities start criminal prosecutions against the activists.
Even a simple candle in their hands and a softly chanted song can be the grounds for detention. The special equipment demolished the figures of soldiers, and today it has wrecked the Motherland on the ground. To give the vandalism an added symbolism, a company from Lithuania was hired to destroy the monuments, and Ukrainian guest workers were entrusted with the task of destroying the monuments. All the governments of the Baltic States have declared a war on memory: a total of about half a thousand memorials and monuments in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are going to be destroyed by the end of the year.












