On the evening of Tuesday, June 9th, a statue of the Italian-born explorer Christopher Columbus was torn down from its pedestal in Richmond, Virginia’s Byrd Park by approximately 200 demonstrators. The statue was then draped in an American flag and set on fire.

When the point had been proven with the burning, the statue was dragged to a nearby pond and thrown into the water, in a manner strikingly similar to how a statue of Edward Colston had been disposed of into Bristol Harbor two days prior. The following day, another statue depicting Columbus was toppled outside of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.