Jun 24, 2020 - Politics & Policy

National Guard activated in D.C. and Wisconsin after statues targeted

Rebecca Falconer

Steel fences with concrete bases were reinstalled after a failed attempt to take down a statue of President Andrew Jackson at Lafayette Park on June 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. — Steel fences with concrete bases outside the White House on Wednesday after a failed attempt to topple a statue of the late President Andrew Jackson at Lafayette Park in Washington, DC. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The National Guard was activated on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin in response to anti-racism protesters' attempts to topple statues.

Driving the news: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) took the action after unrest in Madison on Tuesday night saw demonstrators pull down two statues and hurl a "Molotov cocktail into a government building" in a bid to enter the state Capitol, per AP. State Sen. Tim Carpenter said he was assaulted by protesters as he filmed the unrest.

One of the statues toppled in Madison was of Col. Hans Christian Heg, "an abolitionist who died trying to end slavery during the Civil War," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes.
In Washington, D.C., officials said the Army deployed some 400 unarmed National Guard members to "prevent any defacing or destruction," the Washington Post reports. The move comes after protesters tried to tear down a statue outside the White House of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president who enslaved dozens of black people, on Monday evening.

Go deeper: Confederate monuments become flashpoints in protests against racism

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National Guard activated in D.C. and Wisconsin after statues targeted

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