The removal came hours before a protest challenging the controversial figure.
Chula Vista pulled down its statue of Christopher Columbus and placed it in storage Friday, hours before a planned protest to push for its removal.“The statue was removed and stored early this morning.”
The statue’s longtime location, in the city’s Discovery Park since 1991, was the site of a protest set for 2 p.m. Friday. It was that protest that prompted the proactive removal. Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said she spoke with the city manager and police chief Thursday and decided to take it down preemptively to prevent it from being pulled down during the protest and possibly hurting someone.“Our primary concern was the safety of our community,” Salas said, “and certainly we didn’t want to have anything exacerbate the tension that was being felt throughout the United States.
Statues have been pulled down by protesters in other parts of the country, including Confederate figures. Demonstrations around the county continue in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, who died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Video of the incident sparked outrage and protests across the country and in San Diego County, decrying racism and police bias and brutality.
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