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Workers arrived under cover of darkness early Friday to remove a Christopher Columbus statue from Chicagos Grant Park a week after rioters clashed with city police as they attempted to tear the statue down. The statue was being removed partly to de-escalate tensions between protesters and police as unrest continues in the nations third-largest city, the Chicago Tribune reported. CHICAGO MAYOR LIGHTFOOT DEFENDS INSULTING TEXTS TO POLICE UNION PRESIDENT: I DONT TAKE BACK ONE WORDVideos and still images posted on social media showed the statue draped in a cloth as a crane pulled up to dislodge the statue from a pedestal before driving off. Where the statue would be stored and whether it will return anytime soon wasnt immediately known. The decision to remove the statue is a reversal for Lightfoot who has said in the past that removing Columbus statues erases history, the Tribune reported. Last Friday multiple police officers were injured and several arrests were made during a tense protest in which demonstrators tried to pull down the statue, FOX 32 in Chicago reported. Protesters filed at least 20 complaints of police brutality and activist Miracle Boyd said an officer hit her in the face, knocking at least one of her teeth out, according to the Chicago Tribune. Some Italian Americans in the city, who seem Columbus as a figure of pride, have reportedly been opposed to the removal of the statue. "The Italian American community feels betrayed. The Mayors Office is giving into a vocal and destructive minority. This is not how the Democratic process is supposed to work,"Pasquale Gianni of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, said, according to WLS-TV in Chicago. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPOn Thursday, reports said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot planned to have the statue -- as well as another Columbus statue in Little Italy removed as early as Thursday night. Columbus statues across the country have
