At the tail end of a day of protests and rallies celebrating the Juneteenth holiday and calling for an end to police brutality, a group of up to 200 people knocked over statues of Father Junipero Serra, Ulysses S. Grant and Francis Scott Key and vandalized others in Golden Gate Park.
The crowd gathered around 8 p.m. Friday at the north end of the park’s Music Concourse, where a number of statues are located.
In addition to the three statues that were toppled, others including one of Cervantes and Don Quixote were spray painted, as were benches, a fountain and park drinking fountains and pathways. A cost estimate of the damage is expected to be released Monday.
Police allege that protesters threw objects at officers on the scene during the incident, before dispersing around 9:30 p.m. No arrests were made and no injuries were reported.
Mayor London Breed said that in response to the attack on the statues she had asked the Arts Commission, the Human Rights Commission and the Recreation and Parks Department and Commission to work with the community to evaluate public art with connections to racist history.
“There is very real pain in this country rooted in our history of slavery and oppression, especially against African-Americans and Indigenous people. I know that pain all too well,” Breed said in a statement. “But the damage done to our park last night went far beyond just the statues that were torn down, and included significant damage to Golden Gate Park.
“Every dollar we spend cleaning up this vandalism takes funding away from actually supporting our community, including our African-American community,” she continued. “I say this not to defend any particular statue or what it represents, but to recognize that when people take action in the name of my community, they should actually involve us. And when they vandalize our public parks, that’s their agenda, not ours.”
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The action against the statues follows the removal on Thursday of a statue of Christopher Columbus at Coit Tower that city officials feared would become the target of protesters.
The statues were removed by cleanup crews overnight and Recreation and Parks Department officials said the Music Concourse would remain closed Saturday for cleanup and repairs.
Activists just toppled the Junipero Serra statue in Golden Gate Park here in San Francisco
Now they’re onto Francis Scott Key, slave owner and writer of the Star Spangled Banner pic.twitter.com/Ykv0hFMZvK
— Joe Rivano Barros (@jrivanob) June 20, 2020
And Francis Scott Key is down, *right* as a police officer says “you’ve made your point, we’re not gonna let you pull this statue down,” with the crowd cheering and shouting “next one!” pic.twitter.com/8sbjmhMRXf
— Joe Rivano Barros (@jrivanob) June 20, 2020
Nearby statue of Ulysses S. Grant is also toppled. He was a slave owner too, before the Civil War. That’s three for three this night. pic.twitter.com/Lyw6bXeOTO
— Joe Rivano Barros (@jrivanob) June 20, 2020
This is a developing story and will be updated.
