This archive report was first published on 27 June 2020.
On June 26, 2020, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at protecting monuments from protesters.
The order, which was issued on a Friday evening, calls for anyone who damages a public statue to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Mr. Trump's order also warns local jurisdictions and police departments that fail to stop such 'mob rule' that they could face having their federal funding tied to public spaces withheld.
The measure appears to be a response to the recent targeting of several monuments across the US, including a San Francisco bust of Ulysses S. Grant, a statue in Madison, Wisconsin, of an abolitionist immigrant, and a Boston memorial commemorating an African-American regiment.
It cites existing laws providing for up to 10 years in prison for anyone who damages federal property.
President Trump has defended Confederate symbols as a part of American heritage, despite many of them being targeted in the nationwide protests ignited by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a month ago.
Statues of Christopher Columbus, the 15th Century explorer, have also been targeted as perceived symbols of imperialism.
