Chicago removes two Christopher Columbus statues ‘until further notice’
Authorities dismantle monument to explorer after demonstrations and president Donald Trump’s deployment of federal forces
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Your support makes all the difference.Chicago authorities have removed two statues of Christopher Columbus from parks in the city that were the scene of sustained protests and clashes with police.
The city’s mayor Lori Lightfoot announced in a statement on Friday that the statues had been removed from Chicago parks “until further notice,” according to CBS News.
Ms Lightfoot said the decision “is about an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city’s symbols.”
The mayor confirmed that the statues have been removed from Grant Park and Little Italy’s Arrigo Park, following protests at the monuments in the past couple of weeks.
The statues were removed using a crane in the small hours of Friday morning, with small trucks waiting to transport them to an unconfirmed location.
Protests over the statues led to violent scenes between police and demonstrators with the former swinging batons and the latter hurling frozen water bottles and other projectiles.
“Over the coming days, Mayor Lightfoot and the City will be announcing a formal process to assess each of the monuments, memorials, and murals across Chicago’s communities, and develop a framework for creating a public dialogue to determine how we elevate our city’s history and diversity,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
The decision to remove the statues came after US president Donald Trump announced the deployment of federal law enforcement agents to the city on Wednesday.
It forms part of a White House plan to stamp-out protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis custody on Memorial Day.
Activists, who have been campaigning for the removal of monuments to Christopher Columbus for over a month across the US argue that the Italian explorer mistreated indigenous people upon his arrival to the Americas.
“It’s coming down because of the activism that has led to this moment,” wrote alderman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez on Twitter. “Indigenous, Black and Brown people have been fighting for so long to see this happen.”
The White House’s deployment of federal forces to Chicago also comes amid an increase in shootings, which president Trump labelled “worse than Afghanistan”.
One incident on Tuesday saw 15 people injured at a shooting outside a funeral home, which was condemned by Chicago authorities.
A collection of activist groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block federal agents from interfering in or policing protests in Chicago.
Similar actions were taken in Portland, Oregon, where federal forces have clashed with anti-racism protesters in violent scenes this week.
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