A concrete obelisk with Soviet stars at the top that was the center piece of a monument commemorating the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany has been toppled in the Latvian capital.

Shortly before the obelisk went down on Thursday, heavy duty machinery was spotted behind a green privacy screen fence at the foot of the spire.

The diggers chipped away at the base of the nearly 80-meter (260-foot) tall obelisk until it fell over and crashed into the pond that surrounded it in Victory Park.

Scores of people, some with Latvian flags wrapped around their shoulders, cheered and applauded as the edifice came down.

It was the latest in a series of Soviet monuments brought down after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

One young man said it was a "monumental day" for Latvia as a "scar left by the Soviet Union" had been removed.

The obelisk, made up of five spires with three Soviet stars at the top, had stood between two groups of statues - a band of three Red Army soldiers and a woman representing the “Motherland”.

The monument was built in 1985 while Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union.

It has stirred controversy since Latvia regained independence in 1991 and eventually became a NATO and European Union member.

On Twitter, Latvia's foreign minister said by taking down the monument, Latvia was “closing another painful page of the history and looking for better future”.

The country shares a 214-kilometer (133-mile) border with Russia and has a large ethnic Russian population.

On Russia’s annual Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet victory over Germany in World War II, people used to gather in front of the Riga monument to lay flowers.

And not everyone welcomed the demolition, with one woman saying it was "wrong and very bad" to destroy a memorial to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Second World War.

Latvia’s parliament voted to approve the demolition of the Victory Park monument in May, and the Riga City Council followed suit.

Work to clear away the monument started three days ago with the removal of statues.

The area was then cordoned off and authorities issued a flight ban for drones.

Police temporarily closed traffic near the park on Thursday, citing security reasons.

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