Police thwart attempt by protesters to topple statue of Andrew Jackson near White House

Protesters attempted to topple a bronze statue of President Andrew Jackson in a park next to the White House on Monday night but were thwarted when police intervened.

The scene unfolded dramatically as hundreds of demonstrators protesting police brutality locked arms around the statue in Lafayette Square shortly before 8 p.m., while chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Andrew Jackson’s got to go.”

Inside the metal pickets surrounding the statue, a smaller group — some clad in black with goggles, helmets and gas masks — scaled the statue and draped ropes around the seventh president astride a horse. Someone scrawled “killer” in black on the pedestal below.

But then, U.S. Park Police officers in riot gear approached from the west and clashed with the protesters, swinging batons and releasing pepper spray as they moved the protesters back.

President Trump tweeted his dismay at the attempt to remove the statue Monday night.

“Numerous people arrested in D.C. for the disgraceful vandalism, in Lafayette Park, of the magnificent Statue of Andrew Jackson, in addition to the exterior defacing of St. John’s Church across the street,” Trump wrote.

Trump also wrote Tuesday morning on Twitter that he has “authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.....”