UPDATE: 2:20 p.m.
People who say the statue is a symbol of genocide and slavery have been asking for years to get it removed.
Ojii Babamadi told NBC 10 he believed the city was trying to avoid the embarrassment of a planned rally over the weekend.
“This is the hour where we can join efforts around the world and right here to eradicate oppressors' names and enslavers' names from our city. We should not honor the dishonorable,” he said.
Troy Ogelsby, Sr. says he believes the city removed the statue in secret to silence people like him.
“People have died over the years to get this statue removed. They have unfortunately not seen the day that this statue is removed," he told NBC 10. "And when we asked to have it removed, we thought we had a consortium, thought we were in agreement. But it was for a peaceful protest so that we could control the narrative. And they tried to remove it before our peaceful narrative on Saturday.”
Protesters say they aren’t stopping with Columbus. They have their sights set on places named after Cooper, Walt Whitman and Woodrow Wilson as well, saying those names represent racism and oppression.
Mayor Frank Moran agrees the Columbus statue had to go. In fact, he has a personal stake in that.
"My parents were from Puerto Rico, and I know the impact that Columbus had on the island and the atrocities that happened. It’s sensitive," Moran said. "But it’s down, and we’re going to move forward."
Moran says city employees had nothing to do with the damage, but since Camden had no future plans for the statue, he’s ready to move on.
"My thing is going to be sitting down with the community and talking about how we repurpose the use for that area in which the statue once stood," he said.
Moran says he wants to establish a process to deal with offensive symbols "in an orderly manner."
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