BOSTON (WHDH) - Authorities are investigating after a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston’s North End was beheaded.
A 7NEWS photographer discovered the vandalized statue with its head removed and smashed on the ground just after midnight on Wednesday.
Boston police were notified and could be seen documenting the incident.
The same statue was vandalized with red paint and the phrase, “Black Lives Matter,” in 2015. Its head was cut off in 2006 and went missing for six days before being put back on.
Statues across the world have been toppled down amid protests over the death of George Floyd.
In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of Christopher Columbus was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then thrown into a lake on Tuesday night.
Demonstrators have also been advocating for the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia’s capital; however, a judge issued an injunction, preventing Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration from getting rid of the statue for 10 days.
Protesters used a rope to take down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston before throwing it into a river in Bristol, England on Sunday.
Work crews in Jacksonville, Florida dismantled a statue honoring fallen Confederate soldiers after members of the Jacksonville Jaguars called for the removal of the monument following a Black Lives Matter protest on Friday.
In Louisville, Kentucky, crews removed a statue of a major in the Confederate Army, which also has been vandalized in the past.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)