Madison Protesters Condemned For Toppling Statue Of Anti-Slavery Activist
Protesters in Wisconsin drew condemnation late on Tuesday after tearing down the statue of abolitionist Hans Christian Heg, smashing windows at the state house and assaulting a state senator, marking a departure from previous demonstrations targeting symbols of colonialists and Confederate figures.
Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter told the paper he was punched after trying to take a picture of protesters: “All I did was stop and take a picture . . . and the next thing I’m getting five or six punches, getting kicked in the head.”
Two statues—one of Wisconsin's ‘Forward’ motto and another of abolitionist Hans Christian Heg, were targeted and removed from their positions in front of the statehouse.
Heg’s statue was beheaded and thrown into a lake after being rolled through the city.
Unrest broke out in the Wisconsin city late on Tuesday following the arrest of a Black Lives Matter protester.
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Wisconsin crowd pulls down statue of abolitionist who died fighting slavery
Heg, who immigrated to the United States from Norway, became a newspaper editor and an outspoken member of the anti-slavery Free Soil Party. When the Civil War broke out, he was chosen to lead a regiment from Wisconsin. He was killed leading his troops at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.
A crowd in Madison, Wisc. has torn down a statue of an anti-slavery activist who died fighting the Confederacy.
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