A Christopher Columbus statue in Chicago’s Little Italy was defaced by (most likely antifa) vandals for the second time in three days, CBS Chicago reported.
On Columbus Day, vandals splattered the statue with red paint and spray painted the words “mass murderer” and “decolonise” [sic] on the sidewalk next to the statue. No one was caught in Monday’s vandalism and clean-up crew removed the graffiti in the morning.
Columbus statue vandalized in Little Italy again; splattered with red paint, and "mass murderer" written on sidewalk https://t.co/14fb2n7gKF pic.twitter.com/4nGiMzZ13Y
— CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) October 9, 2017
The same statue was also vandalized early Saturday morning with the words “All colonies are burning,” “Muerte al estado,” “f— Columbus,” and an anarchy symbol spray painted at the base of the statue.
The NYC-based antifa group Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (RAM) last month announced a nationwide campaign to deface Christopher Columbus statues on Columbus Day.
RAM encouraged fellow anarchists to record and broadcast their crimes by using the hashtags #F*ckColumbusDay and #DestroyColonialism.
In the Saturday morning incident, three masked males on bicycles were spotted by an off-duty police officer as they were defacing the statue shortly after midnight. The officer was able to detain one of the suspects, 30-year-old Kyle Miskell, after he fell off his bike while trying to make a getaway.
Miskell was charged “with felony counts of criminal damage to government property, and criminal defacement of property,” according to CBS.
There were a number of other similar incidents around the country on or around Columbus Day.
Three different Christopher Columbus statues in three cities in Connecticut — Middletown, New Haven and Norwalk — were targeted by vandals, according to NBC Connecticut.
Middletown police said they are investigating after someone vandalized the town’s statue of Christopher Columbus with red paint overnight. The graffiti reportedly read “kill the colonizer.”
A Columbus statue in New Haven was also vandalized with red paint, according to New Haven police.
Christopher Columbus statue vandalized in Connecticut https://t.co/83SyAl0fCT
— WWLP-22News (@WWLP22News) October 9, 2017
Norwalk police said they are investigating vandalism of a statue but provided no details.
In Lancaster, PA, a Columbus statue was covered with a black ski mask:
On Columbus Day, Christopher Columbus statue in #Lancaster is covered with a black mask. Your thoughts? @WGAL WGAL TV pic.twitter.com/v78rDPOvCM
— Meredith Jorgensen (@MeredithWGAL) October 9, 2017
In Los Angeles, city officials covered a Columbus statue Monday morning and erected a chain-link fence around it.
The cover was reportedly removed later Monday morning, but the chain-link fence remained.
Columbus is apparently not even safe after being pushed aside for “Indigenous Peoples Day.”
On first Indigenous Peoples Day in Los Angeles, Grand Park's statue of Christopher Columbus is covered.https://t.co/4Q2KiXsoHi pic.twitter.com/tQpqlLOrfZ
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) October 9, 2017
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