SAN ANTONIO — The Christopher Columbus statue has been removed from the pedestal in Columbus Park in downtown San Antonio.
The Christopher Columbus Italian Society requested its removal to avoid damage. It had seen protests on Columbus Day for years, but nothing like in recent weeks. City Council's Governance Committee voted to remove it temporarily to clean it pending full council approval.
Here's what the Columbus Society had to say:
"We're inclusive, we understand what's going on in the city and world, although Columbus himself means something different to the Italian community, we're aware of how it can mean something else, we want to help the community heal and calm things down a little bit and we can move from that point."
For now the plan is to rename the park to Piazza Italia and add something else paying tribute to the culture and history of Italians in San Antonio.