Melania Trump statue torched found in Slovenia
A good quirky wooden sculpture folks First Lady Melania Trump is reported to have already been set on fire close to her hometown in Slovenia, prompting its removal.
Brad Downey, the American artist who commissioned the statue, said it had been targeted on 4 July, Independence Day in america.
The Berlin-based artist arranged for the charred statue to be removed the next day.
Police told Reuters information agency that they had launched an investigation.
The sculpture of Mrs Trump, that could be referred to as only carrying a crude likeness to the US first woman, was carved out of a tree trunk on the outskirts of Sevnica, her hometown in central Slovenia.
The statue, which depicts Mrs Trump dressed up in a blue coat similar to 1 she wore to her husband's inauguration and with a club-like side gesturing to the sky, received mixed reviews when it had been erected in July 2019.
Some residents branded the statue a "disgrace", complaining it looked similar to the Smurfs character Smurfette compared to the first lady.
Mr Downey told Reuters he wished to understand who targeted the statue and just why.
He said he had hoped the statue would start a dialogue about the political circumstances in the US, including the fractious debate on immigration.
Mrs Trump, a model who grew up found in Slovenia when it was part of Yugoslavia, found the united states as an immigrant found in the 1990s.
The statue in Slovenia was directed at a period when monuments folks leaders with links to slavery are being re-evaluated as a result of national reflection prompted by anti-racism protests.
In new speeches, including his Independence Day address, US President Donald Trump has taken a hardline against those who vandalise or tear down statues.
Since Mr Trump was elected US president in 2016, Sevnica has become a tourist magnet, as site visitors search for an insight into Mrs Trump's early years
Residents have presented ranges of Melania-branded products, including slippers, cakes, and Trump-want burgers with fly-away cheese "hair".
In August this past year, a wooden statue of President Trump was constructed in Slovenia, east of the capital Ljubljana. Like the rendering of Mrs Trump, the statue of her husband divided opinion.
Standing practically 8m (26ft) tall, the statue was burnt to the bottom by unfamiliar arsonists in January this year.
