Man shot as New Mexico protesters try to remove Spanish conquistador statue

A man was shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday night as protesters tried to tear down a bronze statue of a Spanish conquistador outside the city museum. Authorities later announced that the statue would be removed until next steps could be determined.

The man was in a “critical but stable” condition, police said.

The FBI confirmed it was assisting local authorities. The Albuquerque police department said it received reports of vigilante groups possibly instigating violence, though it was not certain who was responsible for the shooting.

A group of armed men had tried to protect the statue, a bronze of Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate around which protesters wrapped a chain which they began pulling while chanting: “Tear it down.” One protester repeatedly swung a pickaxe at the base of the statue.

Moments later, gunshots could be heard.

Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said police used teargas and flash bangs to protect officers who intervened and detained some members of the public. Armed militia men were disarmed and taken into custody.

“The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city,” Mayor Tim Keller said in a statement. “Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us.

“Our hearts go out to the victim, his family and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight. This sculpture has now become an urgent matter of public safety”.

Democratic New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a statement in which she said the armed groups had been there to menace protesters. No matter who struck first, she said, there would be no room in New Mexico for any sort of escalation of what she called “reckless, violent rhetoric”.

The violence came just hours after activists in northern New Mexico celebrated the removal of another likeness of Oñate that was on public display at a cultural centre in the community of Alcalde.

A forklift pried the massive bronze statue of Oñate on horseback from a concrete pedestal. Cheers erupted among bystanders who saw the memorial as an affront to indigenous people and an obstacle to greater racial harmony, though several people also arrived to defend the statue.

County manager Tomas Campos said the statue was placed in storage for its own protection. He expected a three-member county commission to solicit public comment on what to do next with the public works project, which was commissioned by the state in the early 1990s.

“This is public property and I’m not going to allow it to be damaged,” he said. “Plus, I don’t feel like risking my sheriff’s deputies or state police to defend it.”

Oñate, who arrived in 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 is also reviled for his brutality.

To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having ordered the right feet cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors after the killing of his nephew. In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the Alcalde statue.

Luis Peña of Espanola, an artist and computer network engineer, started a public petition last week to remove the statue in Alcalde. He said he was heartened to see it taken off display.

Removal of the statue was followed by a few heated roadside discussions about local colonial history, under the gaze of a half-dozen sheriff’s deputies. Tony Valerio, 65, rushed to the site after a neighbour alerted him that the statue was being taken down.

“He’s my hero. He brought a lot of good things to New Mexico,” Valerio said of Oñate. “What’s next? The Statue of Liberty?”

Lujan Grisham, who has campaigned on her heritage as a 12th-generation New Mexican, called the statue’s removal a “step in the right direction” in an earlier Twitter post.

By Monday evening, dozens had joined a celebratory gathering with Native American dancing and drumming outside the cultural centre where demonstrators left hand prints in red paint on the empty pedestal.

Meanwhile, the scene in Albuquerque turned into chaos as people ran for cover. Police in riot gear could be seen taking at least two people into custody following the shooting as some protesters heckled the officers. It was more than two hours before the area was cleared.

Monuments to European conquerors and colonists around the world are being pulled down amid an intense re-examination of racial injustices in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police.