Fires burned, a band played and people danced when crowds demolished a Virginia Confederate monument – one of several destroyed this week across the country amid protests over George Floyd’s death involving police.
In total, four Confederate statues at the monument – believed to be standing on a site where slaves were once sentenced at the caning post – were beheaded, and one was pulled using a tow rope Wednesday night at the Portsmouth Confederate monument, The Virginian-Pilot reports.
After a statue was beheaded, the crowd threw cheers and a protester who stood on his lap could be heard shouting, “Who wants to pull this down?” video from the scene shows.
A Portsmouth protester was seriously injured when one of the statues fell, crashing into his head. He was taken to hospital after his head was cut open and he lost consciousness, according to The Virginian-Pilot.
Meanwhile in Georgia, vandals target the statue of the Confederate General Lafayette McLaws at Forsyth Park, WSAV reports.
On Thursday, the statue was found with a white hood over his head and a black fist spray painted on it.
The statue of Christopher Columbus is shown vandalized at Bayfront Park in Miami.Lynne Sladky / AP
In downtown Miami on Wednesday, people vandalized the statue of Christopher Columbus with a red painted fist, the letter “BLM” for the Black Lives Matter, the name George Floyd and the Communist Party symbols: hammers and sickles, WFOR-TV reports.
The statue of Juan Ponce de Leon, believed to have come with Columbus to discover the New World, was also damaged, according to the report.
The situation heated up and several people were arrested after clashes with police.
People took turns stepping on the statue of Christopher Columbus after the statue was dropped in front of the Minnesota State Capitol on St. Paul.Leila Navidi / Star Tribune via AP
In Minnesota, a group that vowed to knock down a statue of Columbus standing on State Capitol land did so at 5 pm Wednesday.
The group threw a rope around the monument, pulled it to the ground and then danced and spit on it, KMSP-TV reports.
Earlier Wednesday, the statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston’s North End was decapitated.
