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Statue mocking Donald Trump torched in Slovenia

A wooden statue mocking US President Donald Trump has been burned to the ground in Slovenia, the birthplace of his wife Melania, authorities say.

The nearly eight-meter (26-foot) high construction, erected last year in a village in northeast of Slovenia, showed Trump with his trademark hair style, blue suit, white shirt and a long red tie. His right arm — fist clenched — was raised high like that of New York’s Statue of Liberty.

Slovenian police are looking for the arsonist.

When triggered, a mechanism inside the statue opened a red-painted mouth and shark-like teeth used to appear.

“Like all populists, the statue has two faces,” its creator, Tomaz Schlegl, said when he unveiled the statue last August. “One is humane and nice, the other is that of a vampire.”

Although the construction quickly became a tourist attraction, some local villagers were unhappy with its appearance, pledging to torch it by Halloween, October 31. It had to be moved to another village in the area.

Milan Balazic, the mayor of Moravce where the statue ended up, says that unknown arsonists have burned it.

— AP