A stone memorial to 'the liberation of Rīga' in Stopiņi was taken down. In order not to disrupt traffic and not to create risks to public safety, the demolition took place at night. Police special tasks teams were also monitoring what was happening, but there were no incidents.
The so-called liberation of Rīga on October 13, 1944, is a typical myth of Soviet military propaganda. At the time the German army had already abandoned Rīga, and one occupation power was replaced by the next.
One of the last Latvian monuments of Lenin in the village of Mucenieki was also dismantled in Ropaži municipality.
In spring, the Ropaži Municipality Council sought the possibility of transferring the dismantled monuments to the Artist Union or to a museum, but it was decided to destroy them as they had no artistic value.
The local government does not plan to install any other objects in place of the dismantled monuments. It is likely that a pedestrian and cycling track could be established there in the future.