Philadelphia Takes Down Statue of Former Mayor Frank Rizzo

Authorities in Philadelphia on Wednesday removed a statue of former Mayor and Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo, days after demonstrators tried to topple the monument.

Mayor Jim Kenney ordered city crews to remove the statue from Thomas Paine Plaza, near Philadelphia City Hall, in the early morning hours Wednesday.

Demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, a death that has spurred hundreds of peaceful and violent rallies nationwide over the past week, damaged and attempted to set fire to the 10-foot-tall bronze statue last weekend.

Rizzo served two terms as Philadelphia mayor in the 1970s after spending three years as police commissioner. He was praised by many for his firm stance on crime, but critics see him as a national symbol of police violence and prejudice against African Americans.

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