Columbus, Ponce De Leon statues vandalized in Miami, protest turns chaotic
Protesters vandalized the Bayside Marketplace statue of Christopher Columbus, a historic figure thrust into modern controversy because some activists see him as the symbol of colonization that brutalized and destroyed indigenous communities.
When police arrived to stop them, things got heated Wednesday evening.
Seven people were arrested for vandalizing the statue, Miami police said. Using surveillance cameras, police saw and identified the seven, who were not named, spray paint two statues outside of Bayside Marketplace, 401 Biscayne Blvd. One statue portrays Columbus; the other, another legendary explorer and colonizer, Juan Ponce de León.
The graffiti included a hammer and sickle, long a symbol of the Russian Revolution — and a symbol likely to inflame passions in a city full of Cubans fiercely opposed to communism. Early Thursday morning, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio reacted on Twitter, retweeting the Herald photo with the comment, “Because nothing says justice more than a Soviet hammer & sickle! Don’t let anyone twist this.”
He called for supporting peaceful protest and racial equality but “NO TOLERANCE for arson, looting, vandalism and violence.”
The Wednesday protest turned into a skirmish as police were trying to make arrests after they said some officers were assaulted and a police car was damaged. One woman was thrown to the ground in the melee.
Police “decided to bum-rush the kids on skateboards,” said Erica Clark, a Miami resident who was part of the protest ... Everybody got upset because it didn’t take that many cops for one kid so everybody bum-rushed the cops to get them off of the one kid.”
Police called the seven arrested “violent protesters” and said no peaceful protesters were arrested.
“In the City of Miami, we support peaceful protests but there will be zero tolerance for those who hide behind the peaceful protesters to incite riots, damage property, and hurt members of the public or our officers,” Miami police said in a release.
Confederate and Columbus monuments have been targeted in recent weeks amid the protests after the death of George Floyd, the 46-year-old unarmed black man who was killed on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis cop pressed his knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The cop, Derek Chauvin, has since been fired and charged with unintentional second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, as well as third-degree murder.
In Richmond, Virginia, protesters toppled a Columbus statue Tuesday and set it ablaze. In Boston, a Columbus statue was beheaded. On Wednesday, a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol resulted in a statue of Columbus being lassoed and yanked to the ground, according to CNN affiliate WTVR.
Columbus is credited in American textbooks as the discoverer of the “New World,” but he also killed and enslaved indigenous people of the Americas in his earliest travels.
“That man literally has blood on his hands. Us putting the fist on his chest and the blood on his hands is symbolic,” one protester told the Miami Herald.
For years, Native American advocates have urged states to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
During the Wednesday protest, Miami protesters tagged the Bayfront Park Columbus and Juan Ponce de León statues with the letters “BLM” (Black Lives Matter), “George Floyd” and a Soviet hammer and sickle.
The crowd quickly broke up as police responded.
But not before the confrontation, which took place in the middle of the northbound lanes of Biscayne Boulevard near the Ponce de León statue. Protesters tried blocking police vehicles from leaving, which escalated the tension.
“They targeted the individuals who were out here giving the movements and they came out and started brutally slamming protesters,” said Louis Hernandez, 29.
“It definitely seemed like it was planned, 100 percent,” added Jonathan Vale, 30. “They knew who they were targeting. They went specifically to the five people who were leading the march.”
The protest, billed as “No Justice, No Peace,” began around 5 p.m. at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, with about 50 to 60 people marching over to Bayside. It was peaceful until the police arrived with clubs, helmets and shields.
Earlier in the evening, chants of “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace” punctuated the sounds of skateboards gliding across the pavement.
As the chants died down, hip-hop and excerpts of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s speeches blared from a speaker.
Local skateboarders organized the protest to honor Israel “Reefa” Hernandez, an 18-year-old graffiti artist who died after being tased by Miami Beach police in August 2013. Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle did not press charges, contending the Taser stun gun, under state law and police policies, was a “non-lethal” weapon — and thus the teen’s death was an accident, not manslaughter or murder, she said.
The vibe was far mellower earlier in the afternoon during a car caravan that ran from North Miami Beach to North Miami.
At least 40 cars bearing signs supporting the Black Lives Matter movement lined Northeast 19th Avenue. In the distance, speeches with the words “justice,” “accountability” and “equality” could be heard.
The demonstration, organized by Haitian American Historical Society CEO Elizabeth Jeanty, saw drivers journey about four miles from North Miami Beach to the North Miami police station.
“It’s time for reform,” former state Sen. Daphne Campbell, a Democrat who had represented the area, said before the demonstration. “It’s time for police to realize black lives matter.”
Speeches from city officials and police chiefs bookended the North-Dade demonstration.
“We’re not going to let the behavior of a cop in Minneapolis destroy the relationship that we have with the North Miami police and North Miami Beach police,” North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime told the crowd.
The rally was designed to show unity between the local police departments and the black community.
As the cries for defunding police departments continue to swell, Jeanty and others dismissed that sentiment.
“I think we need a balance,” Jeanty said. “... If we’re going to spend $100 million on police funding, we must spend the same amount on funding resources for the community — better schools, better programs, crime watch and things like that.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 5:20 PM.
