Protestors in Virginia tear down Christopher Columbus statue and discard it in a lake

In Richmond, Virginia, protestors tore down a local statue of Christopher Columbus and proceeded to set it on fire and throw it into a lake, on Tuesday night.

Protestors gathered in Richmond's Byrd Park, apparently in objection to the statue, on Tuesday evening. Shortly after they de-platformed the statue, they hung a sign across the foundation that reads, "Columbus represents genocide." 

"We have to start with the people who stood first on this land," activist Chelsea Higgs-Wise told a crowd gathered in the park earlier in the day. She spoke about the struggles of African-American and indigenous people in America.

The statue, which was owned by the city, was dedicated in December of 1927. It was reportedly the first statue of Christopher Columbus ever erected in the American South. 

The statue's destruction comes after weeks of protests surrounding the death of George Floyd while in police custody, and days after a statue of Confederate General Williams Carter Wickham was torn down from its pedestal in Richmond.