Evil Estonians Crack Down on Helpless Russian Minority

[VetLegion]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6602171.stm

More than 600 people were detained and about 100 hurt after a second night of riots in Estonia's capital Tallinn.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets after new clashes with mainly ethnic Russian protesters erupted over the removal of a Soviet war memorial.

Estonia says the memorial symbolised Soviet occupation. Supporters say it celebrated heroes who fought the Nazis.

I bett Finns have their fingers in this too. It's them and Swedes, I bet.

[Asmodean]

LordShiva in 3, 2, 1.....

[Heresson]

it is a nice statue. Estonians should not remove it, especially since after all, Red Army while occupying them, did help defeating Soviets. Of course, there would be no ww2 without soviet-german pact, but that's another thing. It's not Russia's buiseness what Estonians is doing, but they are acting against their own interest.

[Heresson]

ah, in case You don't know: Russian parliament issued a plea to teh Putin to break diplomatic relationships with Estonia because of this.

[RGBVideo]

Silly ethnic Russians getting angry and violent over a single statue. I've heard that a single person has died in the riots, but I haven't been really following the news myself lately so my hearsay isn't worth much.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by VJ
Silly ethnic Russians getting angry and violent over a single statue. I've heard that a single person has died in the riots, but I haven't been really following the news myself lately so my hearsay isn't worth much.

From the article:

More than a quarter of Estonia's 1.3m people are ethnically Russian, and speak the language.

However, half of them do not have Estonian citizenship.

But there is a faint glimmer of hope:

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed "serious concern" about the events during a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a Kremlin statement said.

Putin has awaken!

[Solver]

Estonians should not remove it

It's being moved, not removed.

I've heard that a single person has died in the riots

True

[Dinner]

Storm in a tea cup. Move the statue some where else and build a memorial for the people who were killed or imprisoned by the Soviets. While they're at it make all those Russians learn to speak the national language.

[Lancer]

Show them the door.

[Jarouik]

Hmh, it has been interesting to follow what happens in Tallinn from the other side of the Gulf of Finland. It really is a completely pointless and unasked-for confrontation. It seems neither the Estonian government nor the Russians in Estonia know what they are doing...

Seeing as the statue was an important symbol, moving it was to deliberately seek alienation with Russians in Estonia, even though it was naturally within Estonian jurisdiction. And on the other hand, what on Earth are Russian politicians really thinking they do get out of interfering in Estonian domestic policies? I guess conflicts like this just aren't rational, but rather caused by emotions allowed to run unchecked. It saddens me to see some Europeans have learned nothing from a century of warfare.

[Jarouik]

Well, there is one thing the government has done right. They stopped selling booze As the riots are mostly caused by frustrated teenagers with nothing better to do, that should cool things down.

[Dinner]

Jarouik, I believe Estonians have been saying that the statue occupies a very prominent location in Tallinn, one which most people believe would be put to better use as a memorial to the people who were killed or imprisoned during the years of Soviet occupation. They're proposing moving the Soviet era war memorial to a less prominent location with in the city.

[Seeker]

These threads just aren't as fun without Serb to mock

[Colonâ„¢]

Russia shouldn't meddle in Estonia's internal affairs.

[Odin]

Those ethnic Russians are a bunch of whiny A-holes.