WATCH BLM activists pelt police protecting Columbus statue in Chicago with rocks, bottles & fireworks (VIDEOS)
A large group of protesters have besieged a Christopher Columbus statue in Chicago, forcing a convoy of several dozen policemen assigned to guard the monument into retreat after showering them with projectiles and fireworks.
Several hundred Black Lives Matter protesters descended on Chicago's Grant Park on Friday, surrounding a towering Columbus statue in a bid to tear it down.
Protesters launch fireworks and other items at Chicago police officers guarding Columbus statue in Grant Park pic.twitter.com/WCga8c47Ty
— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) July 18, 2020
The group – which quickly grew in size, vastly outnumbering the officers who stood guard at the base of the statue – threw bottles, fireworks and other projectiles at law enforcement, eventually forcing police to flee.
Protesters surround statue of Christopher Columbus in Grant Park in #chicago shouting “Columbus was a murderer!” @BLMChi@GKMC18@Sarah4Justice#BlackLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/RDaqm16Zb2
— Madeleine #CopsOutCPS (@madeleinedupre) July 18, 2020
Videos filmed at the scene show officers attempting to dodge the objects in vain, as the protesters chanted “tear it down.”
Chicago Police attacked with bottles and fireworks by people who are at a Christopher Columbus statue. pic.twitter.com/9rwZEOmcK4
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) July 18, 2020
As activists were already in the process of pulling the statue down, police back-up arrived at the park in an apparent last-ditch effort to stop the toppling.
I’m at the Columbus Statue in Grant Park Chicago where protestors are shooting off fireworks and chanting “tear it down”, police presence increasing pic.twitter.com/UjROae2hbc
— Francesca Mathewes (@franimal10) July 18, 2020
The Chicago Tribune’s reporter on the scene, Alice Yin, tweeted that officers were “pushing people out of the inner circle around the statue.”
More police reinforcements have arrived as a substance (I’m not sure what it is) spreads through the air making people cough. The police are pushing people out of the inner circle around the statue
— Alice Yin (@byaliceyin) July 18, 2020
The ensuing altercation saw police officers disperse the crowd by deploying riot control weapons, including pepper spray.
Police in chicago reclaim the statue, pepper spray for everyone.🇺🇸 #ChicagoProtests#ColumbusStatuepic.twitter.com/GBVsXdXD9D
— PatriotsBrotherhoodAlliance (@PatriotsBrothe2) July 18, 2020
Chicago Police are blasting pepper spray at rioters who attempted to tear down statues & threw projectiles at them.Go commie somewhere else!pic.twitter.com/mFPQLpEMTm
— Machiavelli (@TheRISEofROD) July 18, 2020
The Chicago police were able to push back the protesters from the Christopher Columbus statue. pic.twitter.com/4C6oeWIPjj
— Go Trump 🇺🇸 (@GKeile) July 18, 2020
After a brief standoff on the park grounds, police cleared the way to the statue, which by that point, although intact, was heavily defaced with graffiti.
The statue wasn't toppled but its been entirely tagged over. There's also a of bikes that have been left over since PD cleared the area. #Chicago#ChicagoProtestspic.twitter.com/JdrQT8L17Y
— Tyler LaRiviere (@TylerLaRiviere) July 18, 2020
Erected with funding and support from Chicago’s Italian-American community ahead of the city’s second world’s fair, the 15-foot bronze sculpture by Carl Brioschi has stood in Grant Park since 1933. Friday is not the first time the artwork has been vandalized, however, with activists defacing it last month with spray-painted BLM slogans.
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