page_title: Bronze Night
section_title: Epilogue
hierarchical_section_title: Bronze Night / Events surrounding relocation / Epilogue
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of flower plantation on Tõnismägi (original location of the Bronze Soldier), Tallinn, Estonia Eesti: Pilt lilledega haljastatud Tõnismäe haljakust (Pronkssõduri algne asukoht), Tallinn, Eesti Svenska: Bild av blomplantering på Tõnismägi (Bronssoldatens ursprungliga plats), Tallinn, Estland
context_page_description: The Bronze Night, also known as the April Unrest and April Events, refers to the riots in Estonia surrounding the controversial 2007 relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, the Soviet World War II memorial in Tallinn.
  Many ethnic Estonians considered the Bronze Soldier in the city centre a symbol of Soviet occupation and repression. At the same time, the monument has significant symbolic value to Estonia's large ethnic Russian community, symbolising not only Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, but also their claim to equal rights in Estonia.
  Amid political controversy, in April 2007 the Government of Estonia started final preparations for the relocation of the statue and reburial of the associated remains, according to the political mandate received from the previous elections. Disagreement over the appropriateness of the action led to mass protests and riots, lasting for two nights, the worst in Estonia since the Soviet reoccupation in 1944. During the riots, one Russian rioter was killed.
context_section_description: Tõnismägi hill (the former site of the monument and of the now-empty burial site) being city property, the government's position is that it is the responsibility of Tallinn municipal government to decide what to do next with it. On May 9, it was reported that, as agreed with the City Park Office, the Ministry of Defence was planting an enormous flower garden on the site, as a part of the post-exhumation restoration work mandated by the War Graves Act. On June 8, 2007, the Ministry of Defence announced a plan to replace the flowerbed with a permanent park complete with small trees.
caption: Tõnismägi, former site of the monument, May 27, 2007
exif: {}