Washington – Several demonstrators used chains to bring down the only statue of a confederate general in the capital of the united States and set it on fire.
The protest came in the late hours of Friday, the day of emancipation, or “Juneteenth“, which marked the end of slavery in the united States, in the midst of ongoing manifestations of anti-racism after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The demonstrators erupted in cheers and jumps when the statue of Albert Pike, of 3.4 meters (11 feet) in height, tumbled from its pedestal of granite before falling backwards, landing in the middle of a cloud of dust. Then, the protesters surrounded her and lit a fire to try to burn it, while chanting slogans like: “No justice, no peace!” and “No to racist police!”.
Eyewitness accounts and videos posted on social networks indicated that the police were on the spot, but refrained from intervening.
President Donald Trump tweeted rapidly about the shootdown, complaining: “The police of the capital are not doing their job, for they saw how a statue was torn down and burned”.
“These people should be arrested immediately. It’s a disgrace to our country!”, added.
Several protesters read the tweet from Trump with a megaphone and held his anger. After the demolition, most of the protesters returned home peacefully to the Park Lafayette, adjacent to the White House.
The statue of Pike has been a source of controversy for years. The former general of the confederate army was also for a long time an influential leader of the masons, who worship the Pike and who paid for the statue. The body of the Pike is buried in the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the capital city, which also contains a small museum in his honor.
The statue, dedicated in 1901, was located in the Plaza of the Judiciary, approximately 800 meters (half a mile) to the Capitol of the united States. It was built at the request of the masons, who lobbied with success to the Congress that gave them a place to put the statue, always and when Pike be represented with civilian clothing, not military.
Racial tensions in the country broke out after the death of Floyd at the end of last month, doing that to begin protests in the streets of several cities. A video shows a white police officer using the knee to press the neck of Floyd for nearly eight minutes, in which the black man in handcuffs, he said: “I can Not breathe”. The agent, Derek Chauvin, has been accused of murder.
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