| Statue of Junípero Serra | |
|---|---|
.JPG) The statue in 2015 | |
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| Subject | Junípero Serra |
| Location | San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°46′19″N122°28′00″W / 37.77183°N 122.46657°W /37.77183; -122.46657 |
The 30-foot (9.1 m) tall statue ofJunípero Serra sculpted byDouglas Tilden was erected inSan Francisco'sGolden Gate Park in 1907.
On June 19, 2020 the statue was toppled and defaced by a mob of vandals associated with the George Floyd protest[1] Other nearby monuments were also toppled or otherwise vandalized include: the statue ofFrancis Scott Key (author of the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner"),Ulysses S. Grant, German poets Goethe-Schiller monument and a group consisting ofDon Quixote and his companion,Sancho Panza, kneeling to honor their creator,Cervantes.[2]
According to police statements reported by the press, officers arriving at the scene encountered “several hundred people” actively vandalizing the monuments.[3] When additional officers attempted to approach the mob turned violent, pelting them with various thrown objects.[4] The assault forced officers to withdraw without making arrests, leaving the vandals free to continue destroying the statues.[5]
Following the attacks, city work crews removed the affected statues and placed them into storage. The local catholic community was horrified by the desecration of the Serra monument.[6] San Francisco ArchbishopSalvatore Cordileone publicly condemned the incident as "blasphemy and sacrilege".[7] Cordileone further admonished local prosecutors for not pursuing hate crime charges against the perpetrators and stated how Christians are not receiving equal protection under the law.[8]
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