Protesters Chant ‘F*** That Statue’ After They Tear Down Jefferson Davis Statue

Protesters toppled a statue of Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, Wednesday night as part of ongoing nationwide demonstrations against racial inequality and police brutality.

A crowd gathered, singing and chanting, to watch as the toppled statue was taken away by Richmond police, according to NBC12.

The crowd is heard chanting “f*** that statue” as police placed the Davis statue on the bed of a tow truck in video posted just before midnight to Twitter by Courthouse News reporter Brad Kutner. The crowd can then be heard singing “na na na na hey hey hey goodbye” as the tow truck drove off with the statue.

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The statue had been defaced over the course of the past week. “F*** 12,” an anti-police slogan and “BLM,” short for Black Lives Matter, were spray painted on the statue according to photos posted to Twitter by Kutner. It appeared that a bucket of pink paint was tossed on it as well.

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The Richmond protests are part of protests taking place across the country in response to the death of George Floyd. Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody May 25 after an officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, video of the incident shows.

The Davis statue isn’t the first to be targeted in Floyd demonstrations. In Richmond alone, two others have been toppled. Richmond’s Gen. Williams Carter Wickham was torn down last week and its Christopher Columbus statue was tossed in a lake Tuesday night.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam announced the removal of the Gen. Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond last Thursday. A judge temporarily blocked the removal June 9.

The Christopher Columbus statue outside the St. Paul, Minn. Capitol building was torn down by protesters on Wednesday, Fox 9 News reported. A Columbus statue in Boston was discovered decapitated Wednesday morning, according to Boston 25 News.

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The Davis Monument, erected in 1907, is located in Richmond’s Monument Avenue Historic District, according to the National Park Service. Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederacy until the Confederacy’s defeat in 1865.