VILNIUS, August 24. /TASS/. The Latvian police on Tuesday detained 14 people at the monument to the liberators of Riga in the country’s capital who took part in a protest against its dismantling, Delfi reported, citing the police.

Several dozens of people protested against the demolition of the monument in Victory Park in Riga, the news portal reported.

Delfi reported earlier that construction workers and machinery had arrived in the park where the monument has stood since 1985. There were at least ten minibuses with policemen on board around the memorial, Delfi reported.

Lawmakers in Riga announced on August 22 that the monument should be demolished by November 15. Some 2.1 million euro ($2.12 million) is planned to be spent on that.

On August 12, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said government-level decisions had been made in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to demolish Soviet memorials. She slammed such anti-Russian moves as manifestations of neo-Nazism in the Baltic nations.