One more symbol on the ground in the fight against racism in the United States. Protesters shot dead the night on Friday, June 19, the only statue of a Confederate general erected in the American capital Washington, according to images published by the American media.

ABC7 News television showed images of the statue of southern general Albert Pike knocked down with the help of a rope by several dozen protesters chanting the slogan: "Black lives matter".

US President Donald Trump described the incident on Twitter as "shame on our country", called for the arrest of its perpetrators, and accused Washington police of "not doing its job by watching a statue be shot and burned down. "

Commemoration of the end of slavery

The destruction of this statue took place at the end of demonstrations marking the 155th anniversary of the "Juneteenth" (contraction of June and 19 in English), the day of 1865 when the last slaves were released in Texas.

Many monuments erected in honor of figures from the Confederate camp during the American Civil War (1861-1865) have been demolished in the United States in recent days.

Several tragedies, including the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American who was asphyxiated by a white police officer who arrested him at the end of May in Minneapolis, forced the country to examine his conscience on the racism that has marked his past. and still permeates society today.

Trump meeting in a city haunted by racism

If Donald Trump denounced the death of George Floyd, he mainly directed his speeches against anti-racist demonstrators, regularly calling for "law and order".

The republican billionaire who is seeking a second term resumes Saturday with his campaign rallies in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had caused outrage by choosing the symbolic date of June 19 and had to postpone it to the next day.

The city remains haunted by memories of one of the worst racial riots in history, where up to 300 African Americans were massacred by a white crowd in 1921.

With AFP

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