The small square–actually more of a triangle–on Basanavičiaus street in Vilnius with a sculpture of Litvak writer in French and diplomat Romain Gary as a boy was the sight of a fairly large protest Wednesday last week.

Several hundred people came to protest plans by the adjacent cafė to cut down some larger trees around the sculpture.

The cafė owner claimed the trees weren’t rooted in soil and had simply grown over pavement, and posed an obstacle to renovating the terrace there.

Protestors called for tree specialists to make a determination about root-depth. Last Friday the Vilnius city municipality rescinded permission to remove the nine trees until experts have had a chance to look at the situation.

Romain Gary (born Romain Kacew) lived in the neighborhood of the square now named after him as a boy. Romain Gary Square (triangle) is also across the street from Max Weinreich’s apartment. He was the founder of YIVO and YIVO was originally housed in his apartment until it moved to its Vivulskio street headquarters in Vilnius, long since destroyed.

Full article in Lithuanian here.