TALLINN, ESTONIA - Estonian officials exhumed remains believed to be those of Soviet soldiers from a Red Army memorial in the heart of the capital Saturday, pushing ahead with an operation that sparked widespread rioting by infuriated ethnic Russians.

The streets were largely quiet after two nights of unrest, but tensions were still high among the country's majority Estonians and minority Russians. Local media reported that several graves of famous Estonians had been desecrated, as well as some belonging to Soviet soldiers and the Nazi troops they fought during World War II.

Protesters gathered Saturday night in the largely ethnic Russian towns of Johvi and Narva, near the Russian border, leading to dozens of arrests. But there was nothing like the violence the previous two nights that resulted in the death of a Russian citizen, more than 100 injuries and more than 840 arrests.

The government placed a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol after 6 p.m. and sent hundreds of thousands of text messages asking people to stay home.