Activists topple statues of Roosevelt and Lincoln amid Columbus Day protests

A statue of former president Abraham Lincoln which was toppled in Portland (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian/AP)

Protesters in Portland overturned statues of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and vandalised the Oregon Historical Society in a declaration of “rage” toward Columbus Day.

In actions echoed in other US cities and across Latin American, Portland protest organisers dubbed the event “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” in response to Monday’s federal holiday named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus – a polarising figure who Native American advocates have said spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations.