Chicago removed a Christopher Columbus statue from the city’s lakefront Grant Park before dawn Friday, a week after protesters attempted to tear it down.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office said the city temporarily removed the Columbus statues from both Grant Park and the Little Italy neighborhood a few miles away “until further notice.” It was not immediately clear where the statues were taken.
The recalls come “in response to protests that have become unsafe for both protesters and the police, as well as efforts by individuals to independently tear down the Grant Park statue in an extremely dangerous manner,” the statement said. “This step is about an effort to protect public safety and preserve a safe space for inclusive and democratic public dialogue about the symbols of our city.”
On July 17, a confrontation between protesters and police at the Grant Park statue resulted in injuries to both protesters and officers.
Lightfoot, a Democrat, originally said she did not believe the Grant Park statue should fall. “Look, I know the Columbus issue, Columbus Day is a topic of great discussion, but I think the way we educate our particular youth about history is to educate them about the whole story,” Lightfoot said in June, according to NBC. Chicago.
But on Monday, the mayor said he would announce a plan to take an inventory of the city’s monuments and other symbols.
“Over time, our team will determine that there are no African American monuments in this city,” said Lightfoot. “There are no monuments to women. There are no monuments that reflect the contributions of people in the city of Chicago that contributed to the greatness of this city,” said the mayor, according to NBC Chicago.
Friday’s statement said the mayor and city “will announce a formal process to evaluate each of the monuments, monuments and murals in Chicago’s communities, and develop a framework to create public dialogue to determine how we elevate history and diversity of our city. “
Both Columbus statues that were demolished on Friday had been smashed last month, NBC Chicago reported.
Like the Confederate monuments across the country, the Columbus statues have been the target of recent protests over the history of colonization, slavery, and violence of the Italian navigator towards the native peoples of the Americas.
The statue removals come as President Donald Trump’s administration plans to send federal law enforcement officers to the city in response to a recent wave of gun violence, a plan that has sparked concern among some Chicago community activists.
A collection of activist groups filed a lawsuit Thursday, trying to prevent federal agents from interfering with or monitoring the protests, The Associated Press reported.
Trump on Wednesday night called Lightfoot to confirm his administration’s plan to bring officers into the city to complement investigations of violent crimes. In a statement, the Lightfoot office offered caution, saying “the mayor has made it clear that if there is any deviation from what was announced, we will seek all available legal options to protect Chicagoans.”
Trump directed federal agents to Portland following an executive order to punish those who destroy federal monuments or government property. At widespread nightly demonstrations in the city, residents protested the presence of federal agents.
