
On the 4th of July, protesters gathered in Baltimore and managed to bring down a Christopher Columbus statue and throw it into a nearby harbor. Read on to learn more and see the video.
Here’s what you need to know.
The Christopher Columbus statue was located near Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland, the Baltimore Sun reported. On the evening of the Fourth of July, a group of protesters put a rope around the statue and managed to topple it. They then tossed it into the Inn Harbor in Baltimore and cheered.
Spencer Compton captured the moment that they tore the statue down and shared the video on Twitter. You can see a rope wrapped around the statue and then you can see the statue going tumbling off the pedestal.
Baltimore just tore down the Columbus statue ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻 #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/uX5ty8oI3f
— spencer compton (@spencercompton) July 5, 2020
Here’s another angle showing the statue being torn down, as shared by Louis Krauss of the Baltimore Brew on Twitter. He said the statue was taken down in Little Italy.
Protesters just took down the Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore’s Little Italy. pic.twitter.com/ViPk5eKOtz
— Louis Krauss (@louiskraussnews) July 5, 2020
In another video that he tweeted publicly, you can see the statue then being thrown into the Inner Harbor. He also said in his tweet that his original video was taken down.
Aaaand dumped it in the inner harbor ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻
(original video taken down. RT this one) pic.twitter.com/Ka0QI5dSNR— spencer compton (@spencercompton) July 5, 2020
Here’s another angle showing part of the statue being thrown into the harbor, as shared by J.M. Giordano on Twitter.
Baltimore’s Columbus statue gets dumped in the harbor pic.twitter.com/ZwuNcqAH6d
— J. M. Giordano photo (@jmgpix) July 5, 2020
Here’s a photo showing the pedestal without the statue.
Protesters yanked down the Christopher Columbus statue near Little Italy and tossed it into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor as fireworks went off around the city on the evening of the Fourth of July. https://t.co/TrCP68kdDs
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) July 5, 2020
Here’s a video of the crowd right after the statue was tossed into the harbor.
RAW VIDEO: A witness shared this video of the moments right after the statue was pulled down. He said a group came during ongoing protests in the park and pulled the statue down.
Warning: there is profanity in the video. @wbaltv11 pic.twitter.com/GjNFArJbRV
— Tre Ward (@TreWardWBAL) July 5, 2020
The Baltimore Sun reported that the statue had been dedicated in 1984 and had been carved in Italian Carrara marble. It was owned by the city and dedicated by President Ronald Reagan and former Mayor William Donald Schaefer.
The Sun noted that this was one of the last three Columbus monuments in Baltimore. Another is a 44-foot obelisk erected in 1792 and dedicated to Columbus. Another is in Druid Park. In 2017, Ryan Dorsey – a City Councilman in Baltimore – proposed renaming the obelisk as the Police Violence Victims Monument.
After hearing about the Columbus statue, he tweeted: “How is it that with all the attention given to the Columbus monuments, and as consistently awful as the FOP is, how is the FOP memorial not on the list of monuments to remove?”
How is it that with all the attention given to the Columbus monuments, and as consistently awful as the FOP is, how is the FOP memorial not on the list of monuments to remove?
— Ryan Dorsey (@ElectRyanDorsey) July 5, 2020
He tweeted about the statue: “Bye.”
— Ryan Dorsey (@ElectRyanDorsey) July 5, 2020
Fox Baltimore reported that a Little Italy group had previously hired an unarmed security group to watch the statue for 24 hours a day. Fox reported that a group of protesters was later seen at Ouzo Bay.
Crowd is back at the empty pedestal of the Columbus statue applauding taking it down pic.twitter.com/RAveaRh8Hf
— Emily Opilo (@emilyopilo) July 5, 2020
Emily Opilo of the Baltimore Sun tweeted: “The protest broke up around Gay and Lombard. The group was sent home with a warning not to post their pics on social media.”
The protest broke up around Gay and Lombard. The group was sent home with a warning not to post their pics on social media
— Emily Opilo (@emilyopilo) July 5, 2020
Here’s another photo of where the statute used to be.
The pedestal is all that’s left of the Columbus statue on Eastern Ave. in Baltimore pic.twitter.com/dRVIXY21ov
— Emily Opilo (@emilyopilo) July 5, 2020
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