Christopher Columbus statue found beheaded in Boston

It’s not clear the statue, which was put in storage, will be returned to the park. “We’re going to have conversations at some point,” the mayor said.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Boston residents discovered a Christopher Columbus statue beheaded on Wednesday. The head was found on the ground at 12:30 a.m.

The statue stands in a waterfront park in the city’s traditionally Italian North End neighborhood.

After the vandalism, the statue brought to mind more the Headless Horseman from Washington Irving’s famous story of Ichabod Crane than the great explorer who discovered the Americas.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said, “This particular statue has been subject to repeated vandalism here in Boston, and given the conversations that we’re certainly having right now in our city of Boston and throughout the country, we’re also going to take time to assess the historic meaning of this action.”

It’s not clear that the statue, which was put in storage, will be returned to the park. “We’re going to have conversations at some point,” Walsh said.

The issue of celebrating Columbus has been controversial for years given the savagery with which he and his men treated the native Indians in the Caribbean islands to which he sailed beginning in 1492.

With the issue of racism having come to the fore in the wake of the George Floyd killing and subsequent riots and protests, numerous statues of historical figures have been toppled, including at least two other Columbus statues.

One of them, in Richmond, Virginia, was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then submerged into a lake on Tuesday.

Also in Richmond on Wednesday night, protesters tore down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis along Richmond, Virginia’s famed Monument Avenue.

The statue in the former capital of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11:00 p.m., news outlets reported.

Richmond police were on the scene and videos on social media showed the monument being towed away as a crowd cheered.

About 80 miles away, protesters in Portsmouth, Virginia beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument on Wednesday, according to media outlets.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that 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 protester in his 30s was hit in the head as the monument fell, causing him to lose consciousness, Portsmouth NAACP Vice President Louie Gibbs told the newspaper. The crowd quieted as the man was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately clear.

A flag tied to the monument was lit on fire, and the flames burned briefly at the base of one of the statues.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which is four blocks away from where the Davis statue stood. A judge on Monday issued an injunction preventing officials from removing the monuments for the next 10 days.

AP contributed to this report.