President Komorowski at unveiling ceremony last Thursday; photo - PAP/Adam Warżawa

A part of the monument unveiled to the Tatar people in Gdansk, northern Poland last Thursday by President Bronislaw Komorowski has been stolen and the statue damaged.

The damage, worth 50,000 zloty (over 10,000 euros) includes the theft of part of a sceptre, held by the bronze figure of a Tatar horseman, which weighs around 250 kg and is 1.5 metres in height.

The damage was discovered by someone taking a stroll in Park Orunski in the Baltic city on Saturday, police inform.

The monument symbolises the Tatar communities involvement in the 1920 Polish-Soviet war and other battles in defence of Poland. 

“Tatars shed their blood in all national independence uprisings. Their blood seeped into the foundations of the reborn Polish Republic,” Komorowski said in Gdansk last Thursday. (pg)