Statues toppled throughout US in protests against racism

1 of 21 |

A person who said he goes by the name James Madison, second from right, carries a rifle as he walks Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. Madison is part of the volunteer security team who have been working inside the CHOP zone, and said he and other armed volunteers were patrolling Saturday to keep the area safe. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

2 of 21 |

Crews add The Henry Wyatt Monument to a truck after removing them from the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, June 20, 2020. crews removed one statue dedicated to the women of the Confederacy, and another placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy honoring Henry Wyatt, the first North Carolinian killed in battle in the Civil War. Both statues stood for over a century. It was not immediately clear who ordered the removals. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

3 of 21 |

A growing memorial to a person named Lorenzo is shown, Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the intersection of 10th Ave. and Pine St. near the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

4 of 21 |

People film the only statue of a Confederate general, Albert Pike, in the nation’s capital after it was toppled by protesters and set on fire in Washington early Saturday, June 20, 2020. It comes on Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery in the United States, amid continuing anti-racism demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

5 of 21 |

6 of 21 |

People taking part in a Juneteenth march travel down 23rd Ave. in Seattle, Friday, June 19, 2020. Thousands of people marched to honor the Juneteenth holiday and to protest against police violence and racism. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

7 of 21 |

A person taking part in a Juneteenth march in Seattle holds up a stencil of a fist, Friday, June 19, 2020. Thousands of people marched to honor the Juneteenth holiday and to protest against police violence and racism. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

8 of 21 |

Workers from the Recreation and Parks Department paint over graffiti after a statue of Francis Scott Key was toppled from its pedestal in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)

9 of 21 |

Park police and neighboring residents survey the damage in Golden Gate Park, Saturday, June 20, 2020, after statues of Junipero Serra, U.S. Grant and Francis Scott Key were toppled and graffiti was spray painted over many walls and pedestals. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)

10 of 21 |

CHOP is spray painted on a barricade, Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

11 of 21 |

A meeting of protesters, organizers, and other is held, Saturday, June 20, 2020, in Cal Anderson Park in the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

12 of 21 |

Caution tape is shown near a sign with the names of victims of police violence, Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. It is unknown who put the tape in place. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

13 of 21 |

The Oddfellows Hall is shown at right, Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the intersection of 10th Ave. and Pine St. next to a barricade for the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

14 of 21 |

A pedestrian walks past the Oddfellows Hall, Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the intersection of 10th Ave. and Pine St. next to a barricade for the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

15 of 21 |

A sign on a barricade reads “Welcome to CHOP,” Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the intersection of 10th Ave. and Pine St. at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

16 of 21 |

Flowers and candles are shown at a growing memorial, Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the intersection of 10th Ave. and Pine St. near the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle where a pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

17 of 21 |

A member of the volunteer security team at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone carries a rifle as he walks Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside the CHOP in Seattle. Armed volunteers said they were patrolling Saturday to keep the area safe. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

18 of 21 |

A person who said he goes by the name James Madison carries a rifle as he walks Saturday, June 20, 2020, near what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. Madison is part of the volunteer security team who have been working inside the CHOP zone, and said he and other armed volunteers were patrolling Saturday to keep the area safe. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

19 of 21 |

A person who said he goes by the name James Madison, left, carries a rifle as he walks with Javi Cordero, Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. Both men are part of the volunteer security team who have been working inside the CHOP zone. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department’s East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

20 of 21 |

A statue of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of “Don Quixote,” stands after being vandalized overnight in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)

21 of 21 |

A person carries traffic cones and a U.S. flag in front of the Seattle Police East Precinct building, Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and JEFFREY COLLINS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Protesters tore down more statues across the United States, expanding the razing in a San Francisco park to the writer of America’s national anthem and the general who won the country’s Civil War that ended widespread slavery.

In Seattle, pre-dawn violence erupted Saturday in a protest zone largely abandoned by police, where one person was fatally shot and another critically injured.

On the East Coast, more statues honoring Confederates who tried to break away from the United States more than 150 years ago were toppled.

But several were removed at the order of North Carolina’s Democratic governor, who said he was trying to avoid violent clashes or injuries from toppling the heavy monuments erected by white supremacists that he said do not belong in places like the state Capitol grounds that are for all people.

Other news

Runners start in the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Tigst Assefa shatters the women’s marathon world record by more than 2 minutes in Berlin

A view from the tee of hole No. 16 at the Marco Simone Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. If there’s one hole on the course outside Rome that is destined to be decisive in this year’s Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe, it’s the driveable par-4 No. 16. The Ryder Cup will be held in Italy from Sept. 29 to Oct.1 at the Marco Simone Club in Guidonia Montecelio, on the outskirts of Rome. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

RYDER CUP ’23: The reachable par-4 16th is the highlight on a course designed for drama

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during the U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Biden is set to announce the opening of new U.S. embassies on Cook Islands and Niue on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, as the Democratic administration aims to demonstrate to Pacific Island leaders that it remains committed to increasing American presence in the region. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Biden to open embassies in Cook Islands, Niue as he welcomes Pacific leaders for Washington summit

The statues are falling amid continuing anti-racism demonstrations following the May 25 police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, the African American man who died after a white police officers pressed his knee on his neck and whose death galvanized protesters around the globe to rally against police brutality and racism.

At a campaign rally Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, President Donald Trump sought to tie the destruction of monuments and statues around the country to Democratic leaders, including his likely rival in the presidential election, Joe Biden.

Trump said “the choice in 2020 is very simple. Do you want to bow before the left-wing mob or do you want to stand up tall and proud as Americans?”

In San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park along the Pacific Ocean, protesters sprayed red paint and wrote “slave owner” on pedestals before using ropes to bring down the statues and drag them down grassy slopes amid cheers and applause.

The statues targeted included a bust of Ulysses Grant, who was the U.S. president after he was the general who finally beat the Confederates and ended the Civil War.

Protesters pointed out that Grant and his family owned slaves. He married into a slave-owning family, but he had no problem fighting to end slavery. Grant also supported the 1868 Republican platform when he won the presidency, which called for allowing Black men to continue voting in the South.

Also torn down in the San Francisco park was a statue of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the U.S. national anthem “Star Spangled Banner.” Key owned slaves.

Protesters also pulled down the statue of Spanish missionary Junipero Serra, an 18th century Roman Catholic priest who founded nine of California’s 21 Spanish missions and is credited with bringing Roman Catholicism to the Western United States.

Serra forced Native Americans to stay at those missions after they were converted or face brutal punishment. His statues have been defaced in California for several years by people who said he destroyed tribes and their culture.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvadore Cordileone criticized the pulling down of the Junipero Serra statue.

“What is happening to our society? A renewed national movement to heal memories and correct the injustices of racism and police brutality in our country has been hijacked by some into a movement of violence, looting and vandalism,” he said in a statement Saturday night.

Police officers were called out to the park, but they didn’t intervene. The crowd threw objects at the officers, but no injuries or arrests were reported, San Francisco Police spokesman Officer Adam Lobsinger said.

In Seattle, authorities were investigating what led to the shooting in the area known as CHOP, which stands for “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone. It has been harshly criticized by President Donald Trump, who has tweeted about possibly sending in the military to exert control.

Police released few other details about the shooting. Two men with gunshot wounds arrived in a private vehicle at a hospital about 3 a.m. One died, and the other was in critical condition, Harborview Medical Center spokesperson Susan Gregg said.

In Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, North Carolina, it was another night of tearing down Confederate statues. In the nation’s capital, demonstrators toppled the 11-foot (3.4-meter) statue of Albert Pike, the only statue in the city of a Confederate general. Then they set a bonfire and stood around it in a circle as the statue burned, chanting, “No justice, no peace!” and “No racist police!”

Trump quickly tweeted about the toppling, calling out D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and writing: “The DC police are not doing their job as they watched a statue be ripped down and burn. These people should be immediately arrested. A disgrace to our Country!”

Two statues of two Confederate soldiers that were part of a larger obelisk were torn down Friday night by protesters in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Police officers initially stopped the demonstrators. But after they cleared the area, the protesters returned an finished the job. They dragged the statues down the street and strung one up by the neck from a light post.

Saturday morning, official work crews came to the North Carolina capitol to remove two more Confederate statues. One statue was dedicated to the women of the Confederacy, and another was placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy honoring Henry Wyatt, the first North Carolinian killed in battle in the Civil War, news outlets reported.

Gov. Roy Cooper said he ordered the removal for public safety and blamed the Republican majority state General Assembly for the danger.

“If the legislature had repealed their 2015 law that puts up legal roadblocks to removal, we could have avoided the dangerous incidents of last night,” Cooper posted on Twitter. “Monuments to white supremacy don’t belong in places of allegiance, and it’s past time that these painful memorials be moved in a legal, safe way.”

Cooper’s opponent for a second term in November, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, issued a statement saying Cooper did nothing to stop the destruction of statues and was either incompetent or encouraging lawlessness.

“It is clear that Gov. Cooper is either incapable of upholding law and order, or worse, encouraging this behavior,” Forest said.

___

Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writers Lisa Baum in Seattle and Ashraf Khalil and Ashley Thomas in Washington, D.C., contributed to this story.