Protesters Tore Down A Statue Of Confederate President Jefferson Davis In Virginia

"He never deserved to be up on that pedestal," said Levar Stoney, the mayor of Richmond, Virginia.

Protesters tore down a statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday — the latest in a growing list of monuments depicting Confederacy leaders, enslavers, and colonizers to be toppled across the globe during recent Black Lives Matter protests.

The bronze statue of the enslaver and president of the Confederate States during the Civil War had stood on Monument Avenue for over 100 years in front of a column monument.

After protesters pulled it down, it lay on its back in the street, an arm outstretched. The crowd cheered when a tow truck came and took it away.

VIDEO: The monument of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis was torn down by protesters >> https://t.co/5OOt2aFyYs

Recent protests in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, have brought down multiple statues.

On Tuesday night, a 93-year-old statue of Christopher Columbus was toppled in Richmond, set on fire, and thrown into a lake.

Last week, a statue of Confederate leader Williams Carter Wickham was pulled down from a Richmond park.

The city's mayor, Levar Stoney, said Thursday morning that Davis was a "racist and traitor" and "never deserved to be up on that pedestal."

Jefferson Davis was a racist & traitor who fled our city as his troops carried out orders to burn it to the ground. He never deserved to be up on that pedestal. July 1, we will begin the process the state requires to remove these monuments to the Old Richmond of a Lost Cause. 1/4

However, he also called on protesters to allow contractors to professionally remove the city's other Confederacy statues in order to ensure it is done safely.

For the sake of public safety, I ask the community to allow us to legally contract to have the remaining ones removed professionally, to prevent any potential harm that could result from attempts to remove them without professional experience. 2/4

About 80 miles away, in Portsmouth, Virginia, protesters threw paint, beheaded, and set on fire a large statue to four Confederacy leaders, as horns played.

After trying to use a rope to pull the statues down failed, protesters smashed the statues off in pieces with sledgehammers.

I think all the Confederates are headless now.

However, a man was seriously injured when one of the falling statues hit him in the head.

Video shows the protesters realizing someone is hurt and asking the crowd to move and get help.

portsmouth, va successfully removes confederate statue 😊

Portsmouth Police then asked people to clear the area (police had been allowing protesters to remove statues) and confirmed a person was seriously injured and taken to hospital for treatment.

Native American protesters brought down another Columbus statue outside the Minnesota Capitol, to cheers.

BREAKING: Protesters have toppled the Christopher Columbus statue at the Minnesota State Capitol. @WCCO

Video shows protesters then played Native drums and sang in front of the toppled statue.

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

In Boston, another Columbus statue was beheaded early Wednesday. In Montgomery, Alabama, a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was brought down outside a high school last week.

A tweet of an edited video of statues being toppled across the world — including a statue of Edward Colston, a famed UK slave trader, being thrown into Bristol Harbor — went viral Wednesday night.

The video is set to Enya's soothing 2000 song "Only Time."

(Destroys racist statues while Enya plays in the background)

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