JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) - The Latest on the dispute over plans to move a statue in Jersey City commemorating the 1940 massacre of Poles (all times local):
3 p.m.
Jersey City’s mayor is calling a legal effort to block the move of a statue commemorating the 1940 massacre of Poles “political grandstanding.”
Local Polish groups opposing the move filed for a temporary restraining order Tuesday.
The Katyn memorial sits in a plaza just across the Hudson River from New York City and has been called “gruesome” by the head of a group renovating the plaza.
Mayor Steven Fulop has said the statue is being relocated for the renovation of the plaza where it now stands.
On Tuesday Fulop said there is no valid basis for the legal challenge, and that he is committed to “building a park for Jersey City residents” and placing the statue at a new location in Jersey City.
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1 p.m.
Opponents of Jersey City’s mayor’s plan to move a statue commemorating the 1940 massacre of Poles have gone to court to seek a temporary restraining order.
An attorney representing local Polish groups said a federal judge received the request Tuesday. Three city council members also announced their opposition to Mayor Steven Fulop’s plans.
The Katyn memorial sits in a plaza just across the Hudson River from New York City.
The memorial will be moved for a renovation of the plaza where it stands, according to published reports. The head of the group organizing the renovation has called the statue “gruesome” and has said he prefers that it get a new home.
Fulop has said there will be a discussion with the community on when, where and if the statue would be re-installed after the work on the park is complete.
Several representatives of Polish groups said Tuesday that Fulop hasn’t sought their input.
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10 a.m.
Members of Jersey City’s council are opposing the mayor’s plan to move a statue commemorating the 1940 massacre of Poles, as a Jewish group in Poland adds its voice to the opposition.
Three council members have called a news conference Tuesday to oppose Mayor Steven Fulop’s plan to possibly move the Katyn memorial from a plaza across the Hudson River from New York City.
The controversy has pitted Fulop against a Polish senator who has criticized the move. Fulop has called Polish Senate Speaker Stanislaw Karczewski “a known anti-Semite.”
The Jewish Community of Poland released a statement opposing the move, noting hundreds of massacre victims were Jewish.
The bronze statue depicts a Polish soldier impaled in the back with a bayonet. It has stood in Jersey City since 1991.
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9 a.m.
The debate over the proposed removal of a statue in New Jersey honoring victims of a 1940 massacre of Poles is ongoing.
Three members of Jersey City’s council have called a news conference Tuesday to oppose Mayor Steven Fulop’s effort to possibly remove the Katyn memorial from a waterfront plaza just across the Hudson River from New York City.
The controversy already has sparked a cross-Atlantic war of words between Fulop and a Polish senator who has criticized the move.
The bronze statue depicts a Polish soldier gagged, bound and impaled in the back with a bayonet. It stands on a granite base containing soil from the Katyn Forest, where many victims were buried on the western edge of Russia.
It has stood at Jersey City’s Exchange Place since 1991.
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Associated Press writer Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.
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