Protesters toppled a statue of the President of Confederation in the state capital of Virginia, Richmond, the latest U.S. monument to be destroyed in nationwide protests demanding an end to racial injustice on Wednesday.
Images posted on social media showed the statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the pro-slavery Confederate States during the American Civil War of 1861-1865, lured into a tow truck and transported to applause. The base of the statue was covered with graffiti.
It stood along Monument Avenue in Richmond, which is lined with statues of several prominent Confederate figures. The city was the capital of Confederation for most of the war.
The May 25 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the worldwide wave of anti-racism protests that followed has relaunched a campaign to remove statues and other symbols honoring Confederate leaders.
Many southerners defend the monuments in tribute to the war dead and are part of the country’s history, and vigorously oppose their withdrawal despite their association with slavery and racism.
A Richmond judge on Monday issued a 10-day injunction against Governor Ralph Northam’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the city.
Earlier Wednesday in Portsmouth, Virginia, protesters beheaded and degraded statues that were part of the Confederate monument to the city.
A group of protesters also shot dead a statue of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday, and a monument to Christopher Columbus erected in Richmond in 1927 was vandalized and thrown into a lake on Tuesday.
In the early hours of Wednesday in Boston, the head of a statue of Columbus was also removed.
While Columbus has long been praised for opening the New World to European civilization and colonization, current scholars recognize a more complicated legacy, including the enslavement and subjugation of indigenous peoples.
A statue of Columbus was vandalized in Miami Wednesday evening, along with that of his fellow explorer Ponce de Leon. Police said seven people were arrested in the incident, which they say became violent.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
