Protesters promised to topple the Emancipation Memorial, which depicts President Abraham Lincoln freeing a slave from his chains, in Washington D.C. Friday, but after several hours of demonstrations, the statue was not taken down.
Despite dark clouds indicating a possible storm, protesters still claimed that they were going to take down the statue, which was surrounded by concrete barriers and a fence. (RELATED: Police Union: Atlanta Police Officers ‘Afraid’ To Do Their Jobs And Then Getting Fired)
Friday’s protest was one of the many demonstrations that have been ongoing since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis Police custody. Protesters who called for Confederate statues to be removed are now advocating for the removal of a variety of statues of historical figures, including Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.
In anticipation of Friday’s protests, President Donald Trump put 400 national guard soldiers on standby to help park police protect the monuments amidst the unrest, Politico reported. Department of Defense spokesperson Chris Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday that the guards were there in “a civil disturbance and security role around the District” to support the police and protect “key monuments,” according to the report.
Protesters claim this statue is going to be torn down this evening ???? pic.twitter.com/XRPjAftp4y
— Richie????McG???? (@RichieMcGinniss) June 26, 2020
A protester got in the face of Daily Caller Video editor Vince Shkreli, asking him why he was with the Daily Caller and repeatedly telling him to “go home.”
“I’m not going home, I live in this city,” Shkreli told the protester, who was wearing all black clothes, a tan backpack and a bicycle helmet. “I’m not gonna take any bullying or intimidation from you, alright?” Shkreli said.
A man showed up to the protest at the Emancipation Memorial with his own megaphone, telling protesters that they “don’t even know the history of this statue” that they want to tear down.
“Y’all don’t even know the history of this statue, but you wanna tear it down,” the man said.
This man just walked in with his own megaphone:
“Y’all don’t even know the history of this statue, but you want to tear it down!” pic.twitter.com/RJv1VpwXrh— Richie????McG???? (@RichieMcGinniss) June 26, 2020
After he finished speaking, the man who was running the event addressed the crowd.
“Are you guys done hearing from people who do not want change?” he asked. “Then what are we gonna do? We are gonna tear that motherfucker down!”
The man continued to defend the statue in front of angry protesters.
WATCH:
“I say that Black Lives Matter people are full of shit,” he said. “And the reason I say they’re full of shit, because their money ain’t saying black lives matter.”
“You come out here, you want to tear down statues, but how much of this black history of DC do you really know? If black lives really matter … how much of this history have you tried to learn?” he added.
“I say #BLM people are full of s***”
Says black man at #EmancipationMemorial who is the side of not tearing down the statue in #DC pic.twitter.com/VWPzHXl45d— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) June 26, 2020
One America News Network correspondent Jack Posobiec was assaulted by a group of protesters who pushed him and threw water at him. The black man who was defending the statue earlier stepped between Posobiec and the crowd, and a group of protesters followed Posobiec as he left.
WATCH:
Posobiec said on Twitter that he is filing assault charges.
I am currently filing an assualt report with DC police
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 27, 2020
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information comes in.