The Latest: Columbus statue defaced in San Francisco

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Latest on Columbus statues defaced around the country (all times local):

2 p.m.

A Columbus statue in San Francisco was defaced with red paint and graffiti, the day before a federal holiday celebrating the 15th century Italian navigator.

Officials say the statue at the foot of Coit Tower in the city’s North Beach neighbourhood was vandalized sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning. Someone poured red paint over it and drew anarchy symbols and messages on the concrete base that read “Destroy all monuments of genocide” and “Kill all colonizers.”

City workers cleaned the statue Sunday as thousands celebrated Italian culture.

Last year, San Francisco voted to replace the Columbus Day holiday with Indigenous Peoples Day to honour Native American people decimated by the arrival of European immigrants.

Officials in Providence, Rhode Island, also report that a Columbus statue was vandalized there.

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7:20 a.m.

A statue of Christopher Columbus in Rhode Island has been vandalized on the U.S. holiday named for him.

The statue in Providence was splashed from head to toe with red paint Monday, and a sign reading “Stop celebrating genocide” was leaned against the pedestal.

The word “genocide” was written in orange paint on the rear of the pedestal.

The statue has been the target of vandals on Columbus Day in the past.

The New World explorer has become a polarizing figure.

Native American advocates have pressed states to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day over concerns that Columbus spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

The Associated Press


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