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A work crew removed the statue of Christopher Columbus from Columbus City Hall in Ohio on Wednesday, after it sat there for 65 years following a donation by the Italian city of Genoa.
The statue was taken off its pedestal before 6:30 a.m. and rotated to face City Hall. An hour or so later it was taken away on a flatbed truck, according to The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Art Commission has reportedly been tasked with replacing the statue due to its jurisdiction over all city-owned art.
“We are just at the beginning of making that happen,” Diane Nance, chairwoman of the Commission, said. “We want to get it right."
A decision will likely be made within the next "several months," she added.
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The statue’s replacement could serve as a temporary placeholder, or it could be deemed permanent, The Dispatch reported.
This news comes on the same day that Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney used emergency powers to remove all Confederate statues that sit on city land.
Stoney, a Democrat, said he's attempting to speed up the healing process for what was once the capital of the Confederacy, The Associated Press reported.
He also claimed that because protesters have already toppled several statues, he must act in the interest of their safety by having the city remove the monuments for them.
"Failing to remove the statues now poses a severe, immediate and growing threat to public safety,” Stoney said in a statement. "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge, and protesters attempt to take down Confederate statues themselves or confront others who are also doing so, the risk grows for serious illness, injury, or death."
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These moves come after weeks of various protests throughout the U.S. over police brutality following the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd. The demonstrations have led to a national debate over the depiction of certain historical monuments, the Confederate flag and brands such as Aunt Jemimah and Uncle Ben's.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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