The Christopher Columbus statue on Public Square on Wilkes-Barre is seen defaced Friday night following a demonstration on the square earlier in the evening.
                                 Joe Soprano | Times Leader

The Christopher Columbus statue on Public Square on Wilkes-Barre is seen defaced Friday night following a demonstration on the square earlier in the evening.

Joe Soprano | Times Leader

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WILKES-BARRE — The latest civil rights protest on Public Square apparently was followed by an act of civil disobedience.

A statue of Christopher Columbus on the square was doused in a red substance, with Black Lives Matters posters and one calling Columbus a rapist and a murderer left on the monument.

Hundreds of demonstrators had filled the square starting at 5 p.m. for a rally calling attention to police brutality in the latest of a series of local events in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer late last month.

The rally started out with speakers talking about the importance of youth engagement, voting and the need for all Americans to recognize and protest systemic racism.

At some point in the evening, the granite monument became a target, as statues of Columbus, Robert E. Lee and other figures associated with slavery and colonialism have around the nation and internationally over the past week.

Wilkes-Barre police said they were aware of the vandalism and were investigating Friday night.