Thursday, 25 August, marks the start of the final stage of demolition of the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders. Now the construction company hired to do the job will tackle the demolition of the final element of the monument – the obelisk.
Live footage from the site can be found here.
The situation in the area surrounding the monument is calm. It does not seem that the news regarding the monument’s demolition has caused a great deal of interest. Activities with the monument now seem to attract only attention of rare pedestrians allowed to come within the vicinity of the monument. The surrounding territory is patrolled by police, including on horseback. Nearby there is also a police bus equipped with surveillance cameras.
The only remaining element of the monument is the 79 m tall obelisk with three stars at the top.
Active demolition of the monument commenced on Tuesday, 23 August. The bronze statues of three Soviet troopers was toppled around afternoon of the same day. The statue of the woman was topped at around 09:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
There are also road traffic restrictions imposed in the area near the site of the monument.
Also read: PHOTO, VIDEO | Latvian police detain 14 people near monument’s demolition site in Pārdaugava
According to information from rigaspieminekli.lv, the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders was erected in 1985. It is an allegorical memorial ensemble with a 79 m-tall obelisk in the centre consisting of five pillars of varied height, each with a five-pointed star on top. It symbolizes five years of war and victory fireworks.
For many years thousands of people gathered at the monument on 9 May for celebrations dedicated to the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in WWII. Many people in Latvia still maintain the tradition of celebrating Victory Day (9 May). In many countries of Eastern Europe, however, this day is associated with the occupation of Baltic States and their annexation as part of USSR.
The topic of the Soviet monument in Victory Park and whether or not is has a place in Latvia became hot after the start of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In February 2022, two days after the start of Russian military invasion of Ukraine, Latvia’s Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns stressed at a general meeting of the Conservative Party that the ‘propaganda monument’ located at Victory Park is a threat to Latvia’s national security and that symbols of the ‘empire of evil’ must not be allowed to stay in the centre of Latvia’s capital. The minister promised to invite colleagues in the government and society to understand that the monument must be demolished ‘with respect of international law’.
Later the Ministry of Justice offered four ways to remove the monument dedicated to Soviet troops from Riga.
On 13 May Riga City Council decided to ask Riga Municipal Monument Agency to take measures in order to ‘ensure the demolition of the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders’.
Riga City Council deputies decided to ask the City Development Department, Property Department and Riga Municipal Police to provide the agency the necessary support to ensure the monument is removed. 39 deputies voted in favour of this and 13 voted against. One deputy abstained and seven were absent.
On 16 May Latvia’s Saeima lifted the legal obstacles in the way to demolishing the monument in Pārdaugava. This was provided by amendments proposed by the Foreign Affairs Committee to the agreements signed by the Republic of Latvia and the Russian Federation on 30 April 1994.
The passed law put on hold Section 13 of the agreement reached between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Latvia on social protection of retired military personnel of the Russian Federation and their family members living in Latvia. Section 13 stated that Latvia is to provide the preservation of memorials within its territory.
On the same day Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs sent a note to the Russian Embassy, informing them of the decision to put on hold the section of the agreement on the maintenance and preservation of memorials.
On 16 June the Saeima passed in the final reading the Law on prohibition of display of objects praising the Soviet and Nazi regimes and their dismantling in the territory of the Republic of Latvia, which dictates that that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes are to be removed from the country’s territory by 15 November 2020.
There have been many attempts to remove the monument at Victory park over the years. For example, in 2012 more than 2 300 people signed the campaign on manabalss.lv that proposed demolishing the monument and restoring the historic look of the area.
By October 2013 the number of people who signed this initiative increased to 10 000. Then the mayor of Riga Nils Ušakovs said this initiative is provocative and that demolition of the monument is unacceptable because it would cause ‘enormous tension’ in the entire country.
On 25 February 2012, a week after referendum on making Russian language the second state language, peticijas.com website posted several signatures in favour of the demolition of the monument in question. 2 733 people signed it.
On 19 March 2012 another initiative was posted on peticijas.com, this time for the opposite purpose – a man named Aleksandrs Prokopenko composed a petition in Latvian and Russian language ‘Leave Victory Monument alone!’. More than 2 700 people signed it.
Yet another initiative was posted on manabalss.lv to demolish the monument was posted in 2017.
The author of the initiative – Uģis Polis – explained the Victory Monument was unveiled in Pārdaugava in 1985 – when Latvia was illegally occupied.
This initiative received 10 000 signatures in 2019. The same year politician Tatyana Zhdanok initiated her own initiative on manabalss.lv in order to protect the monument.
That year there were multiple acts of hooliganism and other illegalities committed against the monument. These actions were political motivated.
In 1997 Pērkonkrusts, a Latvian ultranationalist and antisemitic political party, attempted to blow up the monument. The attack failed, killing two of the would-be bombers. This ultranationalist radical party attempted to blow up the monument three times. The first one was in December 1996, the second was in March 1997. The third time, which resulted in some partial damage to the monument, members of this organisation used approximately 1 kg or trinitrotoluene.
In 1999 Latvian police detained three teenagers suspected to tearing off the monument’s metallic elements.
In 2006 vandals spray painted different nationalistic slogans and swastikas on the monument. The same year police detained two youngsters responsible for another act of vandalism – they broke off bricks from the monument and tossed them into the nearby pond. Another group of youngsters were detained in 2006 for breaking the metallic bars on sewer grates at Victory Park.
In 2019 Latvian State Police initiated criminal proceedings in relation to an incident in which some person painted the word «okupanti» on the side of the monument. This year, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, someone splashed the monument with paint in colours of the Ukrainian flag. In another incident some man damaged the monument with a hammer.