Red paint splashed on Alyosha Soviet soldier monument in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv
Red paint was splashed on the Aloysha monument to the Soviet soldier on Bunardzhika hill in Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv on January 30, in the latest incident in which the monument has been targeted with graffiti or daubing with paint.
The incident came two days before the day on which Bulgaria commemorates the victims of the country’s communist-era regime.
At the base of the 10.5 metre high monument, the words “We have not forgotten” and “We will not forgive” were daubed in large red letters.
The administration of the central district in Plovdiv said on the morning of January 30 that cleaning up of the monument had begun. District mayor Georgi Stamenov said that video surveillance was to be installed in that part of the hill.
Plovdiv mayor Zdravko Dimitrov told local media: “It is unacceptable to desecrate historical monuments, we cannot cross out our history”.
Dimitrov said that he had instructed the municipal security department to reinforce their teams to prevent such vandalism.
In September 1944, the Red Army invaded Bulgaria as the Second World War was coming to a close.
This is commemorated by various communist-era monuments, such as the Soviet Army Monument in Sofia and Aloysha in Plovdiv. These and others repeatedly have been the subject of defacing, leading to repeated complaints from the Russian embassy.
(Main photo via podtepeto.com)
