The President of the USA, Donald Trump, signed an order this Friday to protect the monuments, memorials and statues after they’ve been targeted by attacks in the middle of racial protests in the country and which punishes with “long sentences of prison”To those responsible.
“I have just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order that protects Monuments, Memorials and Statues and combats recent Criminal Violence. Long prison terms for these illegal acts against our Great Country! ”Tump announced on his Twitter account.
The executive order states that the federal government will ensure that anyone who attacks monuments is prosecuted and faces penalties of up to 10 years in prison. The order also establishes what federal security forces will intervene to protect the monuments when local authorities fail to do so.
Trump already warned last Tuesday with prison terms and assured that he had authorized the arrest “of anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other federal property in the US” and threatened to apply the “Veterans Memorials Preservation Law or any other legislation that may be relevant.”
The statue of former U.S. Vice President and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun is lifted after being removed from a 100-foot-tall monument on Wednesday June 24, 2020 in Charleston (Meg Kinnard / AP)
In the midst of the effervescence of the protests that swept the country after the death, at the hands of a white police officer, of the African American George Floyd, On May 25, statues of historical figures have been attacked and even removed by the crowd, something that Trump has harshly criticized.
The main objective of the protesters have been the Confederate symbols – defenders of slavery during the Civil War – which abound especially in the southern states, but statues of the Spanish conquerors or of the “founding fathers” of States have also been attacked United.
The statue of Andrew Jackson next to the White House, target of attacks
Even on June 22, federal police prevented protesters from charging at the statue of former President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837), located a few meters from the White House, in Lafayette Park, which has been the epicenter of racial protests in Washington for its location, just across from the President’s residence.
The police intervention prevented the statue in which Jackson appears mounted on a horse that stands on its two hind legs, from being knocked down, since the protesters had already put ropes and chains to remove it from the place.
The statue of the Civil War Monument is moved on a crane after it was knocked off its pedestal in front of the State Capitol on Thursday, June 25, 2020 in Denver (David Zalubowski / AP)
The racial mobilizations have also given way to measures taken by local authorities, as in the case of the towns of Newark and Camden, in the state of New Jersey, to remove some statues from public places.
Just this Friday, a statue of Christopher Columbus was removed from a park in Newark, since, according to its mayor, Ras Baraka, it represents a “symbol of oppression and white supremacism.”
While the order of the governor of Virgina, Ralph Northam, to remove the monument to General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate armies in the American Civil War (1861-1865), came at the hands of a judge, who the On June 9, the measure was suspended for ten days.
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