Europe News
Estonian police: 1,000 detained during monument riots
Apr 29, 2007, 11:07 GMT
Approximately 1,000 people were detained in the two nights of rioting which rocked Estonia Thursday and Friday, the police confirmed on Sunday after a quiet Saturday night.
Tallinn - Approximately 1,000 people were detained in the two nights of rioting which rocked Estonia Thursday and Friday, the police confirmed on Sunday after a quiet Saturday night.
And 156 people were injured in the riots, which were the worst civil strife Estonia has seen since the Russian Revolution. One of them, a 20-year-old Russian citizen, died in hospital in the early hours of Friday morning.
'The Northern Circuit Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that the unfortunate death... was in no way related to the actions of the Estonian authorities. The incident was a conflict between two individuals,' the police press release said.
Rioting broke out on Thursday night, after protests at a government decision to begin excavations at a controversial Red Army memorial prior to relocating it spilled over into violence.
Estonian nationalists see the monument as a reminder of their country's illegal occupation by the Soviet Union, but ethnic Russians see it as a memorial to Russians' sacrifice in the battle against Nazism.
In two nights of chaos in Tallinn an estimated 2,000 rioters, mainly young ethnic Russians, looted shops, smashed property and hurled stones and bottles at police. Police responded with tear gas, flash-bombs and water cannon.
On Friday night the trouble spread to the towns of Johvi and Kohtla-Jarve in the predominantly-Russian east of the country. That trouble continued on Saturday night, with 13 people injured in fresh clashes, the police account said.
But Tallinn remained calm as squads of police ringed the city centre, detaining those they considered to be potential trouble- makers - a total of 150 people in 24 hours, the account said.
And the legal process to identify those who perpetrated the worst acts of violence is under way. Forty-six of the 1,000 detainees were placed under arrest for more serious offences over the course of the troubles, the police account said.
Of those, 21 were Estonian citizens, 21 were resident aliens (the descendants of Soviet citizens who moved to Estonia during the occupation), one was a Latvian citizen and one a Russian citizen. The origin of the other two was not known, police said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
The rioter who died, was stabbed to death by antoher rioter. Russian goverment sayd, that the death was related to police action, but Estonian goverment annuled those messages. Maybe should international media overlook russian media. There might be some unadequate info there. There is already some misinformation. Russian media says, like estonians would blow the statue up- it isnt so. Estonians are reburyng the fallen soldiers from the central of the city to the peaceful cemetary. Also do estonians move the statue to the cemetary. P.S. Russian hackers are attacking estonian goverments web-sites.
I AM A USA CITIZEN NOW LIVING IN ESTONIA FOR 6 YEARS----THE RUSSIANS ARE OFTEN REFEERRED TO AS THE 'BLACKS OF THE EAST'-THE MEN ARE OFTEN THUGS AND THE WOMEN ARE OFTEN PROSTITUTES--THE RUSSIANS SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF THE DEATH/MISERY THEY PUT UPON ESTONIA FOR 50 YEARS---GO BACK TO THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND BE JERKS THERE-AND PUTINS AGENTS/THUGS WILL PUT YOUR BUTTS IN PRISON--
Shut up you idiot stan.
I had a friends there, and theys called me and said that the police hitting laying people with metal sticks and with boots. They took people to the some angar in the sea port and hitting people there. And police doesn't look for really rioters they took everyone.
there has been no police violence.
and this is no riot, this is retarded people committing crimes.
While I am not exactly supportive of the Estonian government's decision to move the statue, I am supportive of the Estonian government reaction towards typical Russian behavior. You cannot trust nationalist Russians (who spew shit like USSR was good, too bad Yeltsin fucked it up), the only way to deal with them is force. The fact that the only casualty in this riot happened due to Russians fighting between themselves only further underlines what approach needs to be taken towards them.
Until Russians start to respect the rights of foreigners in their own country and stop ignoring institutionalized racism, their complaints of so called 'mistreatment' (lets see how a Russian would feel if his/her 9 year old son/daughter was killed by a bunch of thugs who where let free by a court in the name of nationalism) should be ignored and treated as BS propaganda.
You all should be arrested by US Police as a potential terrorists, since you all are mail, alien and potentially can attack lawful citizens in their own country.
Russians who were born in Estonia are still considered alien with very limited rights, how about that people? Do you really care about racism and other human rights? Are any Afro-Americans reading this article? Hwo do you like phrase 'Russians are blacks of Europe'?
Hmmm...
STAN, dear, could you be so kind to repeat this phrase 'THE RUSSIANS ARE OFTEN REFEERRED TO AS THE 'BLACKS OF THE EAST'' in New York in a bar among afroamericans? Please, try, and then type here your report, my dear racist american citizen.
Stan, you should buy yourself a time machine and go back to the National-Socialist Germany, where you and your ideas of herren volk belongs. Not only you don't know nothing about Russians, but it seems you don't know nothing also about Estonia, the Baltic states and their populations. By the way, for those very racist Estonians I see here, your dear government is in big trouble in the EU. You treat a large proportion of your population like animals, don't complain they revolt after, and that you receive some sanctions from the EU. After, like 'New Europeans' you are, go ask help to your dear GWB.
I totally support Estonians. And I can understand their attitudes towards invaders, doesn't matter whether they were Russian imerial-communo-fashists or German nazi. My part of Ukraine had also dramatically suffered from those bastards, and, actually, much more from the first ones than from the second ones.
page: 1
freeApr 29th, 2007 - 12:09:17
i support estonians
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