Riots over Soviet statue
The week's news at a glance.
Tallinn, Estonia
The removal this week of a monument to the Soviet victory over the Nazis caused a deadly riot and paralyzed relations between Estonia and Russia. Estonians say the statue symbolized the brutal, 50-year Soviet occupation of their country. But ethnic Russians, who make up about one-quarter of Estonia’s population, said removing it was an insult to their war dead. After officials took the statue down, Russians rioted in central Tallinn for two straight nights. One person was killed, 150 injured, and nearly 800 arrested. At least half of the ethnic Russians in Estonia don’t have citizenship because Estonia enacted laws discriminating against them as soon as it wrested independence from the Soviet Union, in 1991.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Nepal chooses toddler as its new ‘living goddess’
Under the Radar Girls between two and four are typically chosen to live inside the temple as the Kumari – until puberty strikes
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?