Ruling Paves Way for Referendum on Contested Polish Memorial

A judge’s ruling has paved the way for a referendum to determine whether a statue commemorating the World War II massacre of Polish troops will be moved from a downtown plaza in northern New Jersey.

The ruling by a state judge on Friday held that the Jersey City’s council doesn’t have to vote again on the matter, more than four months after an initial vote authorized moving the statue.

The statue sits in a waterfront plaza across from lower Manhattan and shows a Polish soldier with a bayonet in his back.

City officials sought to move the statue to make way for a new plaza. But members of the Polish community gathered enough signatures for a petition to force a reconsideration.

A date for a referendum hasn’t been set.