{"id":19772,"date":"2013-12-09T08:05:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T13:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=19772"},"modified":"2013-12-09T08:05:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T13:05:34","slug":"protesters-topple-lenin-monument-in-kiev-smash-to-pieces-with-hammers-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2013\/12\/protesters-topple-lenin-monument-in-kiev-smash-to-pieces-with-hammers-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesters topple Lenin monument in Kiev, smash to pieces with hammers (PHOTOS)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"People<\/a>
People surround a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, which was toppled by protesters during a rally organized by supporters of EU integration in Kiev, December 8, 2013. (Reuters \/ Stoyan Nenov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Masked anti-government protesters toppled the monument to Vladimir Lenin in Kiev on Sunday pulling him down with steel ropes, and smashing the granite figure with sledgehammers. A huge crowd queued to get a piece of the statue.<\/span><\/p>\n

A group of protesters singing the national hymn of Ukraine then hoisted the national flag on the vacant pedestal, as the passing cars were honking in support of the act and jubilant cries were heard from the<\/span>\u00a0crowd<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The activists shouted\u00a0\u201c[President Viktor] Yanukovich, you\u2019ll be next!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0while lighting flares and throwing smoke bombs next to the monument, Ukrainian media reported. Security forces were absent from the scene at Shevchenko Boulevard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local clerics also came to the scene\u00a0\u201cto smash Lenin,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0RT\u2019s Lida Vasilevskaya reported from the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

The furious demonstrators were holding red-black flags – the symbol of the far-right opposition party Svoboda (Freedom).<\/span><\/p>\n

However the party denied the responsibility saying it would be unfair to lay the blame on them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cParticipants of Euro Maidan altogether toppled the monument, which was standing there illegally. There was a presidential decree [by former President Viktor Yushchenko in 2009] about its abolition,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Yury Sirotyuk, the spokesman of Svoboda.<\/span><\/p>\n

The leader of the party Oleg Tyagnibok jokingly called it\u00a0\u201ca meaningless suicide.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A protester wearing a mask climbs a ladder to attach a cable and prepare to pull down a statue of Lenin at a monument in his honor during a mass rally called “The March of a Million” in Kiev’s Independence Square on December 8, 2013. (AFP Photo \/ Anatoli Boiko)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kiev police are investigating the monument\u2019s demolition and the first detentions have already been made, according to the opposition Udar party official website.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey detain people who were just standing nearby and expressing a negative attitude to the Stalin-Lenin regime<\/em>,\u201d Valery Karpuntsov, an Udar MP claims, adding that the police did not try to stop the protesters from smashing the monument.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A man holds a sledgehammer as he smashes a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, which was toppled by protesters during a rally organized by supporters of EU integration in Kiev, December 8, 2013. (Reuters \/ Stoyan Nenov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the second time that the monument to the iconic communist leader has been attacked. On December 1, a group of pro-EU protesters tried toppling the statue with a similar tool. The riot police fended off the attack by dispersing the activists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The monument was erected in 1946 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the constitution created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Some Ukrainians view Lenin as an oppressor who deprived them of a state following World War I.<\/span><\/p>\n

The head of the Kiev City Administation, Aleksandr Popov, named the incident\u00a0\u201can act of vandalism that has nothing in common with democracy.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The press secretary of the Ukrainian Prime minister Vitaly Lukyanenko noted that\u00a0\u201cthe war with the monuments is barbarism. This signals the return to dark and wild times of our history.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>
People climb up to the top of a pedestal after a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin was toppled by protesters during a rally organized by supporters of EU integration in Kiev, December 8, 2013. (Reuters \/ Stoyan Nenov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Protesters<\/a>
Protesters rush to get pieces of the granite Lenin statue as souvenirs (RT Photo \/ Lida Vasilevskaya)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Source<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Masked anti-government protesters toppled the monument to Vladimir Lenin in Kiev on Sunday pulling him down with steel ropes, and smashing the granite figure with..<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[273,286],"class_list":["post-19772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-soviet-union-ussr","tag-ukraine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenix.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lenin-si.jpg?fit=690%2C388&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}