(CNN) A crowd of protesters gathered around a statue of George Washington in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday night and lit a fire on its head before pulling it to the ground. Photos and video from the scene showed that the statue was spray painted with "Genocidal Colonist," "You're on native lands," "BLM" and "Big Floyd" -- presumably referring to George Floyd, who died last month at the hands of Minneapolis police. It was also tagged with 1619, which is a reference to the year the first slaves were brought to what is now the United States. Portland Police said the group ran off and there have been no arrests. On Sunday, protesters pulled down a statue of Thomas Jefferson outside of a Portland high school named after the third president and spray painted "slave owner" and George Floyd's name on its base, CNN affiliate KOIN reportedBoth Washington and Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves during their lifetimes.

Source: CNN June 19, 2020 17:03 UTC