#Chicago’s Christopher Columbus statues removed after police-protester clashes

Chicago’s two Christopher Columbus statues were taken down under the cover of darkness early Friday after violent clashes broke out last week between police and protesters, according to reports.

Hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for it to come down, one statue was removed in the Windy City’s Grant Park, while the other was seen being dismantled in Arrigo Park in the Little Italy neighborhood, NBC Chicago reported.

Demonstrators nationwide have clamored for the removal of statues of Columbus to be taken down, calling the Italian explorer a symbol of hate and oppression — while others view him as an important part of Italian-American heritage.

On Monday, Lightfoot said she would announce a process in which the city would take inventory of the city’s monuments, paintings “and other things that memorialize” its history, the news outlet reported.

“In time, our team will determine there are no monuments to African Americans in this city,” she said.

“There are no monuments to women. There are no monuments that reflect the contributions of people in the city of Chicago who contributed to the greatness of this city.”

As recently as last month, Lightfoot said she didn’t believe the Columbus statue at Grant Park should be removed.

“Look, I know that the issue of Columbus, Columbus Day is an issue of great discussion but I think that the way in which we educate our young people in particular about the history is to educate them about the full history,” she said at the time.

Last week, 49 cops and four demonstrators were hurt when clashes broke out during a protest calling for the statue’s removal. More than a dozen individuals were also arrested.

Police have since said a group infiltrated the peaceful demonstrations to spark violence, according to NBC Chicago.

Stefan Cuevas-Caizaguano, a resident watching the removal of the statue at Grant Park, told the Chicago Sun-Times: “This statue coming down is because of the effort of black and Indigenous activists who know the true history of Columbus and what he represents.”

John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, has recently feuded with the mayor after he wrote President Trump a letter asking for federal help to address the surging gun violence in the city.

“I’m sick of the mayor thinking she can do whatever she wants to do,” Catanzara, who is of Italian descent told the Sun-Times.

“She’s not a dictator. She’s a coward that she wanted to do this in the middle of the night when nobody was paying attention after she said she wasn’t going to take the statue down,” he said.

On Thursday night, hundreds of protesters rallied outside Lightfoot’s home and demanded that the local police be defunded.

The demonstration came after Lightfoot reportedly did an about-face and agreed to Trump’s plan to send 200 federal agents to Chicago, in the aftermath of a shooting outside a funeral home that injured at least 15 people.