Shortly after Mayor Lori Lightfoot conceded to allow the federal government to deploy their agents to Chicago, the city has removed the bronze Columbus statue which has been vandalized amid massive Black Lives Matter rallies.

The removal operation started at Chicago’s Grant Park in the middle of the night on Friday. Workers used two heavy-duty cranes to attach metal ropes to the Christopher Columbus monument, which was wrapped tight in white tarpaulin.

The statue of the Italian explorer, erected in the 1930s with funding and blessing from Chicago’s Italian-American community, was then brought down in front of onlookers watching and cheering from across the street.

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