True Left

Protesters overturned statues of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday night in a declaration of “rage” towards Columbus Day.

Protest organisers dubbed the event “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage,” in response to Monday’s federal holiday named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, a polarising figure who Native American advocates have said spurred centuries of genocide against Indigenous populations in the Americas.

The group threw chains around Roosevelt’s statue, officially titled “Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider”. They threw red paint on the monument and began using a blowtorch on the statue’s base, news outlets reported.

The crowd pulled down the statue just before 9pm local time (04:00 GMT). The group later turned their attention towards Lincoln’s statue, pulling it down about eight minutes later.

Historians have said Roosevelt expressed hostility towards Native Americans, once saying, “I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.”

Protesters spray-painted “Dakota 38” on the base of Lincoln’s statue, referencing the 38 Dakota men Lincoln approved to have hanged after the men were involved in a violent conflict with white settlers in Minnesota.

After toppling the statues, the crowd began smashing windows at the Oregon Historical Society and later moved onto the Portland State University Campus Public Safety office.