Uznews.net – After the destruction of Amir Temur Square, the Uzbek authorities have started the reconstruction of Battle Glory Park by rooting out trees and dismantling the Defender of the Motherland monument.

The cutting down of trees in the park, which is located in front of the Museum of the Armed Forced near the Uzbek Ministry of Defence, started on 21 November. The Defender of the Motherland monument, known as the monument to the Defender of Southern Boundaries in Soviet times, was dismantled at night and taken away in an unknown direction.

Monuments to various arms of the armed forces, a children’s playground and military equipment and vehicles – tanks, cannons, rockets and aircraft – were also removed from the park.

An anonymous officer said that young coniferous trees would replace old trees and the monuments would be restored and brought back to their previous places.

People living in neighbouring blocks of flats were indignant about the destruction of the park because, they said, it was very convenient for children to play and elderly to walk in it. However, they could not openly show their protest against this move. “You know what will happen if you do it,” a local resident told Uznews.net.

The monument to the Defender of Southern Boundaries was erected in front of the Museum of the Armed Forces in 1973 and Battle Glory Park was opened in May 1975, ahead of the 30th anniversary of the end of WWII.

This is not the first blow to residents of Tashkent in the past two weeks: almost all century-old trees have been rooted out on Amir Temur Square since 11 November and the building of a former Russian church has been demolished on that square.