Portland Protesters Topple Statues of Lincoln, Roosevelt in 'Day of Rage'

Droves of protesters in Portland, Ore., took down the statues of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln on Sunday in demonstrations that had reportedly been billed online as “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” by organizers.

According to The Oregonian, a group of nearly 200 protesters marched through parts of the town on Sunday night — some carrying weapons, shields and red paint — and toppled both statues before breaking multiple windows at the Oregon Historical Society.

The first statue to come down was that of Roosevelt, who has been known to have expressed racist attitudes toward Native Americans, and then Lincoln’s statue. The paper reported that protesters also painted “Dakota 38” on the base of the latter, referring to the number of Dakota men that were hanged after the Dakota-U.S. War under Lincoln.

Both statues had reportedly been gifted to the city during the 1920s.

A banner that read “Stop honoring racist colonizer murderers” was also reportedly rolled out at the Oregon Historical Society during the demonstration, which at one point was declared a riot by local police, who began to intervene after the Roosevelt statue came down.

Kerry Tymchuk, executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, told local media that “no damage to any of the exhibits” was done, however.