Third Confederate statue torn down in Richmond
Protesters pulled down a confederate statue commemorating Howitzer soldiers at Harrison and Park Avenue in Richmond, VA on June 16, 2020. (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
RICHMOND, Va (AP) - News outlets report demonstrators in Richmond tore down another Confederate statue in the city Tuesday night.
The Howitzers Monument located near Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Park campus was toppled after protesters who spent the night marching in the rain used a rope to pull it down from its pedestal.
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A video from the Richmond Times-Dispatch shows the paint-splattered statue face down on the ground as the rain continued overnight in Virginia’s capital city.
It’s the third Confederate statue, and the fourth monument, to be torn down in Virginia since international protests erupted following the death of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck.
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Statues of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham as well as Christopher Columbus were toppled as well.
The protesters in Richmond started their march Tuesday night advocating for the removal of all Confederate statues, establishing a civilian policing review board and defunding the police, among other things.
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The Howitzers Monument, showed a Confederate artilleryman standing in front of a gun, was erected in 1892 to memorialize the city’s Civil War artillery unit, according to the Encyclopedia of Virginia.