Caracas / South Dakota Venezuela / us
On October 12, activists of various popular movements in Venezuela gathered in the center of capital Caracas to celebrate a 'day of indigenous resistance' (previously 'Columbus Day' or 'day of discovery of America') beneath a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus. Protesters pulled the statue down, in protest against the genocide of Venzuela's indigenous people that they say Columbus represents. The statue was dragged through the streets of Caracas, hung from a tree, and finally broken into pieces. The "revolutionary" police of Caracas (under the authority of mayor Freddy Bernal) arrived, firing tear gas and ammunition into the air. Despite heavy resistence, the police managed to seize the pieces of the statue and arrest five people.
Elsewhere, in South Dakota usa native groups protested against sailors who were re-enacting the 1803-1806 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition (it laid the groundwork for years of genocidal wars against indigenous people in the us.) When the sailors docked their boats at a park in Chamberlain, South Dakota, they were confronted by indigenous people, who told them "We want you to turn around and go home.
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