Police disperse protesters trying to pull down Jackson statue

WASHINGTON — Protesters tried to pull down a statue of President Andrew Jackson near the White House on Monday night before being dispersed by police.

WUSA-TV in Washington reported that police used pepper spray to move protesters out of Lafayette Square, where the Jackson statue is located.

Videos posted on social media showed that the protesters had climbed on the statue and tied ropes around it, then tried to pull it off its pedestal.

The statue shows Jackson in a military uniform, riding a horse that is rearing on its hind legs. The 19th-century president’s treatment of Native Americans has made his statue a target of demonstrators protesting the United States’ legacy of racial injustice.

“Slave Owner” was scrawled in red paint Monday across a statue of Jackson in Jacksonville, Florida.

The prominent statue is located in the center of a busy traffic circle. Jacksonville was named after Jackson, the seventh president of the U.S. and an American military figure who led several campaigns against the Seminole Indians in Florida.

Critics have said his legacy related to Native Americans were part of an ugly chapter in American history.

The statue was also vandalized twice in 2015 when someone spray-painted “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice for D,” a reference to D’angelo Stallworth, who was shot and killed by officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff ’s Office.

A fake Native American head was also placed on the monument at one point.

The Jackson statue in Lafayette Square across from the White House remained on its pedestal Monday night.

President Donald Trump tweeted late Monday that “Numerous people” had been arrested for “the disgraceful vandalism.” He added: “10 years in prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!”

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was at the scene Monday night and issued a statement saying: “Let me be clear: we will not bow to anarchists. Law and order will prevail, and justice will be served.”