Compared to what?

The next time someone starts yammering on about red state/blue state divides, etc, point them to this:

TALLINN, Estonia - Police clashed with protesters Thursday at a Soviet war memorial in Estonia's capital as authorities prepared to remove the bodies despite Russia's angry objections.

After largely peaceful rallies throughout the day, a group of protesters tried to break through a line of police officers guarding the grave and the Bronze Soldier statue next to it.

Some protesters said police fired tear gas, but police spokeswoman Tuuli Harson said they used a type of foam for crowd control. "People tried to break through line and attacked police officers," she said.

Dozens of police had formed lines to keep some 600 protesters away from the monument after workers erected a tent over the memorial to shield the excavations from public view.

Estonia's government intends to relocate the Soviet grave, believed to contain the remains of 14 soldiers, and the statue next to it.

The Baltic state's ethnic Russians — about a third of the population — see the memorial as a tribute to Red Army soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany and have vowed to protect it. Many ethnic Estonians, however, say the memorial is a bitter reminder of five decades of Soviet occupation.

Eleven people were detained, Harson said. Some protesters shouted, "Estonia is a disgrace," and one was detained after trying to jump the police barrier. Three others were detained after locking themselves in a car and refusing to obey police orders. Officers smashed the windows of the car.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The dispute over the monument has aggravated tensions between Estonia and Russia, which has repeatedly called on its small neighbor to halt the plans to move the grave.

My solution is inherently American: keep the memorial and the graveyard, surround it with cheezy strip malls featuring cut rate muffler shops, tattoo parlors, head shops and a none-to-sanitary "Subway" to give it that full Petersburg effect.