US: Protestors topple Christopher Columbus statue, throw it in water

A group of protestors in Baltimore, in the eastern US state of Maryland, toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus on Saturday (local time) and threw it into the city's Inner Harbor, CNN reported.

A group of protestors in Baltimore, in the eastern US state of Maryland, toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus on Saturday (local time) and threw it into the city's Inner Harbor, CNN reported. A video shows the protestors taking down the statue using a rope as Fourth of July fireworks explode in the distance, according to local media.

Dedicated in 1984, the statue is the latest monument in the US to fall during the national reckoning over racial injustice and police brutality in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd, an African-American, in police custody. Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott said in a statement he had previously suggested the statue be removed.

"I support Baltimore's Italian-American community and Baltimore's indigenous community," the statement said. "I cannot, however, support Columbus," it added.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed the removal of colonial and Confederate statues, calling protestors as "angry mobs" who want to erase American history. The demonstrators, however, regard the statues as symbols of racial oppression. In other parts of the country, controversial symbols were toppled by protestors, including a group in Portland, Oregon, who pulled down a statue of George Washington last month and set its head on fire. In Richmond, Virginia, crowds took down the statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, a day after toppling a Columbus statue. (ANI)