Historical statues are being toppled all across the globe, as George Floyd protesters are taking out their anger and frustration on them.
A statue of Christopher Columbus in Virginia has been torn down by protesters, who then set it on fire and threw it into a lake.
Elsewhere, another statue of Columbus in Boston’s Atlantic Avenue in Massachusetts was beheaded.
A @7News photographer was the first one to discover the head had been knocked off the Christopher Columbus statue along the waterfront in the North End. Boston Police were on scene investigating later overnight. pic.twitter.com/YIIHUiPua9
— Korey O'Brien (@koreyobrienTV) June 10, 2020
Columbus is venerated in several statues in the US for his exploration of the Americas but has also provoked more recent controversy over his role in killing, kidnapping and looting around the Caribbean islands and the American mainland in the 15th century.
Native American advocates have also long pressed states to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day over concerns that Columbus spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.
A statue of Belgian King Leopold II was defaced following an anti-racism protest in Brussels, in Bristol, England a statue of Edward Colston can be seen being pushed into the river.
Protesters also tore down another statue in Richmond, that of Confederate president Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue.