Statue of Lenin Outlasts Protesters

Thousands of people gathered late Saturday around the statue of V.I. Lenin, founder of the Soviet state, but dispersed after failing to topple it.

Cranes were not brought in to remove the statue, on October Square in central Moscow, and municipal officials talked the crowd into leaving.

Since the failure of last week’s coup, statues of Lenin have been removed from their pedestals in the Baltic capitals of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, and statues of other historic Soviet leaders have been removed in Moscow.