Protestors try to topple president's statue outside White House

A crowd of protesters tried to topple the statue of a former US president near the White House on Monday evening as police responded with pepper spray to break up new protests that erupted in Washington. Several-hundred protestors were pushed back by at least 100 security force personnel after they had thrown ropes around the statue of Andrew Jackson, the seventh US president, in Lafayette Park. They scrawled the words "killer scum" on the base and pulled at the ropes around the figure of Mr Jackson on a horse before police intervened. Video footage posted to social media also showed demonstrators climbing on the bronze monument in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House, in the latest bid to destroy images of historical figures considered racist or divisive. Police in riot gear are then seen moving in to drive the crowd back and form a protective ring around the statue, which was erected in 1852 on a white marble base. "The police attacked us. They've taken the law to their own hands," Raymond Spaine, a 52-year-old black man cleaning his eyes with saline, told AFP.

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