SPLASH

Baltimore Protesters Toss Christopher Columbus Statue Into River

A spokesman for the city’s mayor said police are “principally concerned with the preservation of life” and not the protection of statues.

Protesters in Baltimore used ropes to topple a statue of Christopher Columbus on Saturday night before hurling it into a river. The Baltimore Sun reports that a crowd tossed the statue into the city’s Inner Harbor as fireworks exploded across the sky for Fourth of July celebrations. Video from the scene showed dozens of demonstrators cheering as the statue fell over, with apparently no intervention from police. The statue is just the latest monument to come down amid nationwide protests against racism that erupted after an unarmed Black man was killed in Minneapolis police custody. Lester Davis, a spokesman for Democratic Mayor Bernard C. Young, was quoted by the Sun saying the statue’s toppling was part of a “re-examination taking place nationally” and that “we understand the frustrations” of demonstrators. “We’ve seen people who have taken to the streets, we have supported them. We are going to continue to support it. That’s a full stop,” Davis said. He said protecting statues was not a priority of the city’s police, who are “principally concerned with the preservation of life.”