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Sunday, 11 October 2020 _Authorities in Mexico have taken down a statue of Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, that protesters threatened to topple in the capital during a planned event for the commemoration of his arrival in the Americas.
The government of Mexico City removed the statue from Reforma Avenue in Mexico City on the request of city officials for restoration on Saturday.
This, however, came just as widespread calls were circulating on social media for the demolition of the monument, days before an event planned for the commemoration of Columbus’ arrival in the continent on Monday.
Protest groups organized a rally called “We’re going to knock it down."
Authorities said the entire sculpture complex “will be deeply restored.” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said the monument would be returned after the restoration work was complete.
Columbus, who first landed in the Americas at the end of the 15th century and has for long been hailed as the so-called discoverer of "The New World," is now regarded by many to have spurred years of genocide against indigenous groups in the continent.
Back in July, thousands of people signed an online petition, calling on the government of the Mexican capital to remove the sculpture.
The call came as historical monuments, with links to colonialism and slavery, were being defaced or toppled across Europe and the US, amid anti-racial protests in the wake of the killing of African-American man George Floyd at the hands US police in Minneapolis in May.
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