Shots fired as protesters clash over Spanish conquistador statue
Albuquerque: A man has been shot and wounded during a protest near a museum in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, police say, where demonstrators were trying to tear down a statue of a 16th-century Spanish conquistador.
A police spokesman in Albuquerque, the state's largest city, said the man was taken to a local hospital in "unknown condition" and that officers were "securing the scene."
This bronze statue of Don Juan de Onate stands outside the Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, NM on Friday. Credit:AP
No further official details of the shooting were immediately available, the spokesman, Daren DeAguero, told Reuters by email.
The Albuquerque Journal newspaper reported that the shooting erupted during a clash between protesters trying to pull down a statue of Juan de Onate, and several heavily armed members of a civilian militia group called the New Mexico Civil Guard.
The confrontation occurred outside the Albuquerque Museum in the heart of the city's Old Town district.
According to the Journal's account, one man involved in a physical altercation with the protesters appeared to draw a gun and fire five shots after he was pushed onto the street, sending members of the crowd scurrying for cover as one person yelled, "Somebody got shot."
Video footage posted to social media from the scene appeared to show one man lying on the ground as several other people tried to render assistance.
A separate clip showed three men lying face down and spread eagled on the pavement as police in riot gear stood over them, apparently making arrests. Another officer appeared to be on the ground as well.
Anti-racism protesters venting anger over last month's death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, have taken to destroying statutes honouring the US Civil War's Confederacy, as well as sculptures of imperialists, conquistadors and other historical figures associated with subjugation of indigenous populations around the world.
The statue at the centre of Monday's protest in Albuquerque is part of a controversial sculpture called La Jornada, which depicts Onate, known for the 1599 massacre of a pueblo tribe, leading a group of Spanish settlers into what is now New Mexico.
La Jornada in bronze: Don Juan de Onate leads a group of Spanish settlers from Mexico in New Mexico.Credit:AP
Earlier, another statue of Onate was removed from public display at a cultural centre in Alcalde, northern New Mexico, to safeguard it from possible damage and avoid civil unrest, hours before scheduled protests at the memorial.
The Red Nation advocacy group for Native American rights was planning a protest to urge authorities to remove the statue from outside the heritage education centre. It has been a source of criticism for decades.
Monuments to European conquerors around the world are being pulled down amid an intense re-examination of racial injustices in the wake of the death of African American man George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Onate, who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, is celebrated as a cultural father figure in communities along the Upper Rio Grande that trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers. But he's also reviled for his brutality.
To Native Americans, he is known for having ordered the right feet cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors after his soldiers stormed Acoma Pueblo's mesa-top "sky city". Onate's order was precipitated by the killing of his nephew. In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the statue - an incident that weighed in the decision to stash it away.
Elena Ortiz, a Red Nation organiser in Santa Fe with family ties to indigenous Ohkey Owingeh Pueblo, said conquistadors including Onate were symbols of violence and detracted from efforts towards mutual aid and support.
"This is an issue of colonisation and the elevation of these individuals — conquerors and conquistadors — into heroes when they were murderers," Ortiz said. "This is a universal issue."
A forklift pried the massive bronze statue from its concrete pedestal. Cheers erupted among bystanders, though several people also arrived to defend the tribute to Onate.
Rio Arriba County Manager Tomas Campos said the statue was placed in storage for its own protection. He expected the three-member county commission to solicit public comment on what to do next with the public works project commissioned by the state in the early 1990s.
"This is public property and I'm not going to allow it to be damaged," Campos said. "Plus, I don't feel like risking my sheriff's deputies or state police to defend it."
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has campaigned on her heritage as a 12th-generation New Mexican, called the Alcade's statue's removal a "step in the right direction" in a Twitter post.
Albuquerque city officials announced on Saturday they would convene a council of community leaders and artists to consider concerns about that city's Onate statue as they look for "creative solutions".
Titled La Jornada, the sculpture depicts Onate leading a group of Spanish settlers to what was then the northern most province of New Spain in 1598. The artwork includes an indigenous guide, a priest, women settlers and soldiers. The names of the families who accompanied Onate are listed on plaques below as part of the "Wall of Spanish Ancestral Heritage".
"Recent calls for altering La Jornada remind us that works of art often challenge communities to debate ideas, pursue empathy, grapple with multiple perspectives, reconcile conflict and interrogate history," said Shelle Sanchez, head of the city's Cultural Services Department.
La Jornada is one of two installations on museum property that reflect part of New Mexico's history, city officials said. The other by New Mexico artist Nora Naranjo Morse of Santa Clara Pueblo is meant to be a place of solace and reflection that was commissioned as a response to the caravan artwork.
Reuters, AP