This Time, Statue Topplers Take Down the 'President'

Protesters tear down statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 11, 2020 6:44 AM CDT
Man Injured as Confederate Statue Is Pulled Down
The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is splattered with paint after it was toppled Wednesday night along Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va.   (Dylan Garner/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

A statue of Jefferson Davis was torn down along the famed Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday night. The statue of the president of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11pm and was left lying on the ground in the middle of an intersection, news outlets reported. Richmond police were on the scene, per the AP. In Portsmouth, protesters beheaded four statues that were part of a Confederate monument on Wednesday and pulled down one of them. The Virginian-Pilot reports that efforts to tear one of the statues down began around 8:20pm, but the rope they were using snapped. The crowd was frustrated by the Portsmouth City Council's decision to put off moving the monument. They switched to throwing bricks from the post that held the plaque they'd pulled down as they initially worked to tumble the statue.

The Virginian-Pilot reports they then started to dismantle the monument one piece at a time as a marching band played in the streets and other protesters danced. A flag tied to the monument was lit on fire, and the flames burned briefly at the base of one of the statues. NBC reports that when the statue was pulled down, it hit a man in the head, seriously injuring him. A witness offered a graphic description to WAVY: "They were pulling on a cord and they had been working at the legs for some time ... and there was a gentleman who was directly in front of the statue" and the statue "came and fully hit him in the head, and we could see that his skull was actually showing. He was convulsing on the ground. He lost a great amount of blood." Police said the man was hospitalized and protesters were dispersed.

(More Jefferson Davis stories.)

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