Published 14:41 IST, June 11th 2020
Statue of Colombus who 'discovered' America decapitated amid protests; others vandalised
Statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston was found beheaded while one in downtown Miami was vandalised and another was pushed into a lake in Richmond, Virginia
As the anti-racism protests continue in the wake of the police homicide of an African-American citizen named George Floyd, so are the incidents of vandalism and rioting, as a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston was found beheaded while the one in downtown Miami was vandalised and another was pushed into a lake earlier in the week in Richmond, Virginia.
This comes as the protestors vowed to get rid of the monuments and statues celebrating colonisers. The United States has been reeling under pressure to remove the sculptures and monuments in the country that are associated with racism, after the incident of police brutality that killed George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.
In reaction, the protestors have vandalised the statues of Columbus who is conceived to have induced genocide against indigenous populations in the American continent.
Not just in America, the call for the removal of statues has been flared in England too as some demonstrators in Bristol toppled a statue of a slave trader on Sunday and dumped it in a harbour during anti-racism protests. Taking note of the incident, the London mayor has announced that statues of imperialist figures would be removed from Britain's streets in order to prevent the sparking of protests further.
On the day Floyd was buried in his hometown of Houston, Texas, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was setting up a commission to ensure the British capital's monuments reflected its diversity. It will review statues, murals, street art, street names and other memorials and consider which legacies should be celebrated, the mayor's office said.
George Floyd was laid to rest on Tuesday following a funeral service at a church in Houston that was attended by over 500 mourners. Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after white police officer Derek Chauvin handcuffed and pinned him to the ground, and knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes while the 46-year-old from Houston gasped for breath. The incident after going viral sparked massive protests against racial injustice in the country and several other parts of the world. However, the protests took a violent turn with incidents of vandalism, rioting and looting.
Updated 14:41 IST, June 11th 2020