Man is shot at protest over statue of conquistador in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE» Gunfire broke out during a protest Monday night in Albuquerque to demand the removal of a statue of Juan de Oñate, the despotic conquistador of New Mexico whose image has become the latest target in demonstrations across the country aimed at righting a history of racial injustice.
As dozens of people gathered around a statue of Oñate, New Mexico’s 16thcentury colonial governor, shouting matches erupted over proposals to take it down and a man was shot, prompting police officers in riot gear to rush in.
The man, who was not identified, was taken away in an ambulance, and the police took into custody several members of a rightwing militia who were dressed in camouflage and carrying military-style rifles. It was not clear whether any of them had fired the shot; witnesses said the gunman was a white man in a blue shirt.
“We are receiving reports about vigilante groups possibly instigating this violence,” Chief Michael Geier of the Albuquerque Police Department said on Twitter. “If this is true will be holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including federal hate group designation and prosecution.”
The victim was in critical but stable condition, the police said on Twitter late Monday night.
The protest turned into pandemonium as protesters screamed and dove for cover and police officers attempted to secure the scene.
The police used chemical irritants and stun grenades to “protect officers and detain individuals involved in the shooting,” he said. “The individuals were disarmed and taken into custody for questioning.”
Hours later, Mayor Tim Keller announced that the Oñate statue would be removed until “the appropriate civic institutions” could determine how to proceed.
“The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city,” the mayor wrote on Twitter. “Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us.”
He added: “Our hearts go out the victim, his family and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight. This sculpture has now become an urgent matter of public safety.”
The protest over the statue came on the same day that political leaders in Albuquerque announced a sweeping reorganization of policing in the city, shifting funds away from its scandal-plagued Police Department to create a new community safety department.
The initiative will give 911 dispatchers the option of a “community safety response” aimed at de-escalating situations, rather than involving police officers or firefighters. The new department is expected to respond to calls related to homelessness, addiction and mental health.
Police officers were not seen during the early portions of Monday night’s protest over the statue, which marked a new phase in the debate over racial inequities that began with the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
As protesters across the country have targeted a variety of symbols of racial injustice, including statues of Christopher Columbus, the protests in New Mexico are evolving to target symbols of colonial atrocities.
Earlier in the day, authorities in the northern town of Alcalde removed a different statue of Oñate, whose brutal rule as provincial governor put into motion centuries of Spanish rule in the region.