Protesters throw Columbus´s statue into water in Baltimore

A group of protesters in Baltimore, in the eastern U.S. state of Maryland, toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus on Saturday, the country's Independence Day, and threw it into the city's Inner Harbor, reported Xinhua, quoting The Baltimore Sun reported.

A video shows protesters taking down the statue using a rope as Fourth of July fireworks explode in the distance, according to local media.

Dedicated in 1984, the statue is the latest monument in the United States to fall during the national reckoning over racial injustice and police brutality in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd, an African-American, in police custody.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed the removal of colonial and Confederate statues, calling protesters targeting them "angry mobs" who want to erase U.S. history. The protesters however regard the statues as symbols of racial oppression.