A protestors wraps chains and ropes around the statue of US President Andrew Jackson during an attempt by protestors to pull the statue down in the middle of Lafayette Park in front of the White House during racial inequality protests in Washington, DC, US, June 22, 2020.
Protesters tried to pull down a statue of President Andrew Jackson near the White House before being dispersed by police.
WUSA-TV in Washington reported on Monday night that police used pepper spray to move protesters out of Lafayette Square, where the Jackson statue is located.
Videos posted on social media showed that the protesters had climbed on the statue and tied ropes around it, then tried to pull it off its pedestal.
dc park police have cleared the area of protestors. the statue did not come down. pic.twitter.com/DbBwRHImUx
— jen 🌩 byers (@scorpiontongue_) June 23, 2020
Earlier, protesters clashed with police in the nearby streets, the latest in a string of demonstrations against police brutality and racism following the death of a 46-year-old Black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.
The statue shows Jackson in a military uniform, riding a horse that is rearing on its hind legs. The 19th-century president's ruthless treatment of Native Americans has made his statue a target of demonstrators protesting the United States' legacy of racial injustice.
Jackson, the seventh US president, was a former general in the US Army and a populist politician nicknamed “Old Hickory,” whose political style has sometimes been compared with that of President Donald Trump.
Native American activists have long criticised Jackson, a Democrat, for signing during his 1829-37 presidency the Indian Removal Act, in which thousands of people were driven from their land by the US government.
The Jackson statue remained on its pedestal Monday night.
President Donald Trump tweeted late Monday that “Numerous people” had been arrested for “the disgraceful vandalism.”
He added: “10 years in prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!”
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. 10 years in prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was at the scene Monday night, and issued a statement saying: “Let me be clear: we will not bow to anarchists. Law and order will prevail, and justice will be served.”
On June 1, law enforcement officers forcefully cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so Trump could stage a photo op at a nearby church.
READ MORE: A look at US statues toppled for symbolising racism
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