A protester has been left fighting for his life after getting shot during a New Mexico protest during which armed militia opened fire to protect the statue of a conquistador from protesters.
The incident occurred outside Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico where protesters gathered to demonstrate against racial injustice.
While the protest initially appeared to be peaceful, the situation spiraled out of control when some protesters picked up pickaxes in an attempt to remove the statue of a 16th-century conquistador.
Determined to protect the monument from the protesters, armed members of the militia group known as New Mexico Civil Guard allegedly stepped forward with their guns.
After one of the protesters got shot, the Albuquerque Police Department arrested the militia and confirmed that the man who got shot was taken into hospital in a critical condition.
Slamming the actions of the militia was Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham who insisted that the armed members were only there “to menace protesters.”
“Although we are still learning more about the situation, I am horrified and disgusted beyond words by the reports of violence at a protest Monday night in Albuquerque,” she said.
“The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard,’ were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force.”
As for the controversial conquistador statue that causes the blood of protesters to boil, Mayor Tim Keller confirmed the sculpture would be removed until next-step-actions are determined.
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Replaced!