Seven people have been arrested for vandalizing statues of Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de León in Miami. The arrests happened after a chaotic scene ensued in the city where protesters had a confrontation with police, and a day after a figure of Columbus was torn down in Richmond, Virginia, and another was found beheaded in Boston, Massachusetts.
In Miami, demonstrators spray-painted statues of Columbus and Ponce de León, another Spanish explorer who landed in Florida, in Bayfront Park with the letters “George Floyd,” “BLM” (Black Lives Matter), and a hammer and sickle. Miami police said officers who responded to the scene were assaulted and their car was damaged.
