HOUSTON A Christopher Columbus statue in Bell Park has been vandalized for the third time since last week. Police were on the scene at Bell Park, just outside the Museum District, after the Columbus statue was vandalized again. Police told KPRC 2 they received a call at around 1 a.m. that someone wearing all black threw red paint on the statue. This same Christopher Columbus statue was vandalized twice last week.

Several Christopher Columbus statues in the U.S., including one in Houston, were defaced by protesters as tensions on systematic racism are on the rise nationwide. The statue, in the Houston Museum District’s Bell Park, that was defaced Thursday morning was a gift from the Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Greater Houston in Columbus’ 500-year anniversary in 1992. But for several years, historians have dug deeper into his violent past and the way he treated Indigenous people. He had also enacted policies of forced labor in which Indigenous people were forced to work for the profit of European colonizers. Today, many cities and states in the U.S. have dropped celebrations of Columbus Day in October and instead celebrate “Indigenous Peoples Day” to stand in solidarity with Native Americans.

HOUSTON A statue of Christopher Columbus at a Houston park has been vandalized for the second straight night. On Thursday night, vandals cut off one of the hands of the statue located in Bell Park in the Museum District. The same statue was vandalized with red paint on Wednesday night. The seven-foot bronze statue was donated to the city in 1992 by the Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Greater Houston. Red paint was also used to vandalize the statue in 2017.

HOUSTON A statue of Christopher Columbus in Houston was found vandalized Thursday morning. The statue is located in Bell Park in the Museum District. A man who lives in the Italian neighborhood where the park is located said hes disappointed to see the statue was defaced. The seven-foot bronze statue was donated to the city in 1992 by the Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Greater Houston. Red paint was also used to vandalize the statue in 2017.