(23 Aug 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Riga, Latvia - 23 August 2022
1. Wide of Soviet statue commemorating the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany
2. Soviet star on statue
3. Close up of scaffolding around the statues of soldiers next to the main tower
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Janis Lange, Riga city's executive director:
"According to Latvia's legislation, till the 15th of November, in Latvia we must dismantle all Soviet time's monuments. And in Riga is the biggest one, a monument that is 30,000 square meters big, and work has already began and I can say we will manage that (we will manage to complete that) by the 15th of November."
5. Digger operating on the statue behind barriers
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Janis Lange, Riga city's executive director:
"Of course, this is a question of values. For Latvians, this monument symbolizes Latvia's occupation after the Second World War. And after Russia's invasion of Ukraine we can't tolerate it anymore. And this is the reason why our parliament decided that now according to this law, we must finish, we must dismantle this monument till (by) the end of November."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Riga, Latvia - 22 August 2022
7. Various of protesters next to police cordon on the side of the monument
8. Confrontation between a monument supporter and anti-monument protester (male with green headwear)
9. Pro-monument protesters
10. Peaceful confrontation between young anti-Russians holding Latvian flag and sign reading "Suitcase, train station, Russia" inviting pro-Russians to leave Latvia and older pro-Russians
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmitry Prokopenko, co-chair of a monument support group:
"Of course I feel sad, because both my grandfathers, my grandmothers and my great grandfather were soldiers of the Second World war, were fighting for freedom against Nazis, my great grandfather was killed in action in Lithuania in 1944. So for me, it's also a monument in the glory of what we did, of their fighting."
12. Various of police dispersing pro-monument protesters, putting up cordon
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmitry Prokopenko, co-chair of a monument support group:
"Of course, history always is difficult. Of course, when people live close one to another many things happen, some good things, some bad things, but I think that Latvia is a land where Latvians and Russians live together. Riga is half Latvian, half Russian, and I think that one part of the state, one part of the country should respect also the rights of the other part."
14. Confrontation between pro and anti-monument protesters
15. Police arresting man
16. Various of Soviet monument
STORYLINE:
Latvia has begun work dismantling a Soviet-era monument that commemorates the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany, coming a week after Estonia removed a similar landmark.
Police erected a yellow fence to cordon off the area near the monument, which stands like a high-rise in downtown Riga's Victory Park.
It has an 80-meter (260-foot) concrete spire with a Soviet star on top, with two groups of statues beside the edge of a pond.
The monument, built in 1985 while Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union, was being felled using machinery on Tuesday.
"This is a question of values," Janis Lange, the Latvian capital's executive director told the Associated Press.
"For Latvians, this monument symbolizes Latvia's occupation after the Second World War. And after Russia's invasion of Ukraine we can't tolerate it anymore."
It wasn't immediately clear what would happen to the monument after it's taken down.
The whole complex will be taken down.
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