Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, compared protesters who toppled a Christopher Columbus statue in Minnesota to members of the Taliban.
"American Taliban," Cruz tweeted Wednesday night. He was responding to a video posted by ABC News that showed people cheering as they ripped down the statue outside the Minnesota State Capitol.
After the statue fell, people cheered as photographers snapped photos of the scene. One man appeared to put his foot on the neck of the statue, a potential reference to how George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer held a knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The Floyd killing on May 25 sparked nationwide protests that have since spilled over to other countries as people protest racial injustices and police brutality. The Columbus statue is one of many of the Italian explorer that are being targeted by protesters over claims that he mistreated Native Americans upon his arrival in the New World.
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