CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- After a protest turned violent last week, Chicago’s Christopher Columbus statues were removed early Friday morning from both Grant Park and Arrigo Park - hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered their removal.
Mayor Lightfoot made the decision Thursday night to remove the two Columbus monuments, in part to avoid another high-profile confrontation between police and protesters like the one that happened last Friday.
The "dark of the night" decision is being compared to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s no-warning, overnight destruction of Meigs Field 17 years ago.
According to the Tribune, not all Italian-American leaders in Chicago were on board with the decision, but it has received the blessing of some groups. By taking the statues down, Lightfoot may draw criticism from those who believe she caved to activist demands.
"It comes in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police, as well as efforts by individuals to independently pull the Grant Park statue down in an extremely dangerous manner. This step is about an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city's symbols. In addition, our public safety resources must be concentrated where they are most needed throughout the city, and particularly in our South and West Side communities," the statement read.
The statement also stated that Mayor Lightfoot and the city will be announcing a formal process to assess each of the monuments, memorials, and murals across Chicago’s communities, and "develop a framework for creating a public dialogue to determine how we elevate our city’s history and diversity. As the Mayor has stated previously, this is not about a single statue or mural, but how we create a platform to channel our city’s dynamic civic energy to collaboratively, purposefully and peacefully reflect our values as Chicagoans and uplift the stories of all of our diverse city’s residents, particularly when it comes to the permanent memorialization of our shared heritage."
Cranes arrived in Grant Park around early Friday morning. The statue was taken down around 3 a.m. and wheeled out of the park a short time later. A couple dozen people cheered from across the street, as they watched the statue be removed.
It was not immediately clear where the statue would be taken.
Late Thursday, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara joined protesters in Grant Park overnight, and said there will be a pro-police protest at the same site in Grant Park over the weekend.
It was reported that he also got into debates with anti-Columbus protesters, some of which grew heated.
Sally Freeman spoke to WBBM Newsradio and said some of her Italian neighbors wanted the statue to remain, because it was historic.
"Others are very, very disappointed. They take it personally, because they are Italian and feel it is a slight against them personally; and it really is not. It's that we know more about Columbus," she said.
As for her opinion, she said, "I think it is a very good idea. He was far too controversial and I was hoping it would come down in a very quiet way and it certainly did."
Freeman said she had first been against taking down the statue, but came around to it, after learning more about Columbus' treatment of indigenous people.
Social media pictures and videos showed tense confrontations between police and the demonstrators, who reportedly had been marching earlier in honor of indigenous people. Chicago police reinforcements eventually secured the area around the statue.
According to social media videos and police, people threw fireworks, bottles and other items at officers who were standing in a circle around the statue.
The attempt to pull down the statue of Columbus came as demonstrators across the country have targeted monuments to historical figures now considered racist. The movement gained traction following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot previously said she was not in favor of removing the city's Columbus statues, preferring instead to move forward while discussing American history in frank terms.
"It's not just about a single statue, it's how we want to reflect our values as a city, to make sure that everyone is reflected in our history, and particularly in our permanent memorialization of our history," she said.
It is not clear what changed between then or now, or why the Mayor ordered the statue to be removed.