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Wisconsin’s governor activates the National Guard to protect state properties after a night of violence that included the toppling of two statues outside the state Capitol, one of which commemorated an abolitionist Civil War hero,

— Wisconsin’s governor said Wednesday he was prepared to activate the National Guard to protect state properties after protesters outside the state Capitol tore down statues commemorating an abolitionist and women’s rights and someone threw a Molotov cocktail into a government building during a night of violence that also included an attack on a state senator.

The violence broke out Tuesday night as a group of 200 to 300 people protested the arrest of a Black man who shouted at restaurant customers through a megaphone while carrying a baseball bat.

Officers inside the Capitol used pepper spray to repel protesters who were trying to break into the historic center of state government, Madison police said.

“What happened in Madison last night presented a stark contrast from the peaceful protests we have seen across our state in recent weeks, including significant damage to state property,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.

The violence unfolded in a city long known as a liberal bastion with a long history ofprotest, dating to student demonstrations on the University of Wisconsin campus in the 1960s. About 100,000 people protested in 2011 over thenGov. Scott Walker’s anti-union proposals.

It also exposed simmering anger over the 2015 shooting by police of a 19-year-old Black man by an officer who remains on the force. That shooting has been referenced by protesters in recent weeks.

The violence started Tuesday after Madison police arrested a protester who came to a restaurant across the street from the Capitol with a bat on his shoulder. Video released by Madison police shows the man, Devenore Johnson, talking through a megaphone while walking around the restaurant’s outdoor patio and inside, saying he’s “disturbing” the restaurant and talking about God and the police before walking out.

On another video released by police, as many as five officers can be seen taking Johnson to the sidewalk and carrying him to a police squad car after he resisted arrest.

Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter was assaulted after taking a cellphone video of protesters.

“Punched/kicked in the head, neck, ribs,” Carpenter tweeted around 4 a.m. “Innocent people are going to get killed.”

One of the statues toppled, decapitated and dragged into a lake about a half-mile away was of Civil War Col. Hans Christian Heg. He was an anti-slavery activist and leader of an anti-slave catcher militia in Wisconsin who fought for the Union and died from injuries suffered during the Battle of Chickamauga.