La Commune de Paris. Tuesday, May 16. In front of a cheering crowd the Vendôme column was pulled down today. Its demolition was scheduled for May 5, on the anniversary of the death of Napoleon whose memorial statue is placed at the top of the column, but it had not been possible to do so because of the military situation. "The Paris Commune considers the imperial column in the Place Vendôme to be a monument of barbarism, a symbol of brute force and false glory, an affirmation of militarism, a denial of international law, a permanent insult of the victors to the vanquished, a continuous attack on one of the three great principles of the Republic: brotherhood!" Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
