Mayor Lori Lightfoot planning to remove Christopher Columbus statue from Chicago’s Grant Park
CHICAGO (AP) — Two statues of Christopher Columbus that stood in Chicago parks have been taken down at the direction of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a week after protesters trying to topple one of the monuments to the Italian explorer clashed with police.
Crews used a large crane to remove the statue from its pedestal in downtown Chicago’s Grant Park as a small crowd gathered to watch. That’s the park where police and protesters clashed a week ago. Hours later, a second statue of Columbus was removed from Arrigo Park in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood.
The Christopher Columbus statues in Grant Park and here in Little Italy at Arrigo Park were removed by the city overnight. This is the statue in Little Italy being driven away with a police escort. #columbus @WBBMNewsradio pic.twitter.com/46jbntChUn
— Bernie Tafoya (@BernieTafoya) July 24, 2020
The Democratic mayor’s office said in a statement issued after the statues were taken down that both were “temporarily removed” at the mayor’s direction “in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police.”
