US police break up attempt to topple Andrew Jackson statue

Trump has often shown his admiration for Andrew Jackson.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday night to condemn the protesters who attempted to topple a statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square and defaced the exterior of St. John’s Church in Washington.

“Numerous people arrested in D.C. for the disgraceful vandalism, in Lafayette Park, of the magnificent Statue of Andrew Jackson, in addition to the exterior defacing of St. John’s Church across the street,” Trump tweeted. “10 years in prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!”

On Monday, protesters attempted to square off Lafayette Square in an act of defiance, similar to CHAZ set up in Seattle, and spray painted “BHAZ,” an acronym for “Black House Autonomous Zone.”

The protesters also broke past a 6-foot-tall metal fence surrounding the statue of Jackson, doused its base with yellow paint, and attached ropes and cords around the statue.

Police quickly intervened to disperse the crowd before they could manage to take down the statue of the seventh president.

Trump has often shown his admiration for Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845).

Jackson was responsible for removing Native Americans from the southeast in order to clear the land for plantations run on slave labor. The forced re-locations, known as the “Trail of Tears,” violently uprooted thousands of Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Native Americans from their ancestral homes.

Shortly after taking office, Trump placed a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office. On May 15, 2017,  Trump visited Jackson’s Tennessee plantation to commemorate the 250th birthday of the former president.

“From poverty and obscurity, Jackson rose to glory and greatness first as a military leader, and then as the seventh President of the United States with courage,” Trump said at the time.

“He did it with courage, with grit, and with a patriotic heart. And by the way, he was one of our great presidents.”

“We must all remember Jackson’s words: that in ‘the planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer,’ we will find muscle and bone of our country. So true. So true,” he said.

Trump has made it one of his goals to bring back manufacturing to the U.S. that has gone overseas.

Black Lives MatterDonald TrumpGeorge Floydstatues