Estonia ? Police fired rubber bullets and a water cannon at hundreds of protesters Friday in Estonia’s capital in a second night of rioting by ethnic Russians angry about the removal of a Soviet war memorial – an act that also aggravated tensions with the Kremlin.

As some people waved Russian flags, demonstrators threw bottles and rocks for several hours, then largely dispersed after officers advanced on the crowd and began making arrests. Several parked cars were smashed and some billboards were set on fire.

The clashes underlined the feuding between ethnic Estonians and Russians since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Many Russian-speakers contend they are discriminated against, and they are being supported by a newly oil-enriched Russia that is growing increasingly assertive in the region.

Estonia’s Russian-speakers – roughly a third of the 1.3 million population – consider the monument erected in 1947 as a tribute to Red Army soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany. Many ethnic Estonians consider it a painful reminder of hardships under Soviet rule.