Protesters on Wednesday evening beheaded four statues on a Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, after the monument was defaced with spray paint hours earlier. A protester told on-scene reporters that an apparent demonstrator was badly injured after one of the toppled statues fell on his head.
Demonstrators began spray painting the monument after Portsmouth NAACP president James Boyd and the local organization’s vice president, Louie Gibbs, were briefly taken into custody and charged with trespassing, according to the Virginian-Pilot. Don Scott, a defense attorney for Gibbs and Boyd, told the newspaper that both local NAACP leaders were released roughly 30 minutes later on a summons.
Photos shared by Virginian-Pilot reporter Saleen Martin show the monument covered in paint with the phrases “Tear it down,” and “BLM.”