More than 50 Secret Service agents are injured in clashes outside the White House: Rioters throw Molotov cocktails in DC while looters trash Gucci and Chanel stores in NYC on a sixth night of violence in cities across the US

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Chaos has continued to unfold in cities across America with more than 50 Secret Service agents injured in clashes with protesters in Washington DC, police charging into demonstrators in New York City and lootings continuing to unfold in major cities like California, Philadelphia and Boston.  

Demonstrations from Washington DC to Los Angeles swelled from peaceful protests - sparked by the death of a black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody last Monday - into scenes of violence that drew National Guard troops in at least 15 states and Washington. 

More than 4,100 people were arrested this weekend alone as the violence continued to escalate and cities enacted strict curfews.  

The threat of heavy officer presence didn't deter protesters from lighting fires just mere feet from the White House, crowds raiding high-end stores in New York and San Francisco or hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at police in Philadelphia. 

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades outside the White House late Sunday as fires were set in the historic St. John's Episcopal Church and Lafayette Park in front of the White House.  

In some cities, thieves smashed their way into stores and ran off with as much as they could carry, leaving shop owners, many of them just ramping up their business again after coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, to clean up their shattered storefronts. 

Protests have unfolded in at least 145 cities across the country over the past week as people gather in outrage over the horrifying death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed while in the custody of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Memorial Day.

The demonstrations have marked unparalleled civil unrest in the US that hasn't been seen since the 1968 assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Donald Trump spent Sunday berating his enemies on Twitter and demanding 'law and order' in Democratic-run cities but did not appear in public and opted against making a televised address to calm tensions. It has since emerged that Trump was rushed by Secret Service agents to a White House bunker on Friday night as hundreds of protesters gathered outside.  

In other developments: 

• A man was shot in Louisville last night after a crowd gathered in the city, following other deaths in Detroit, Indianapolis and Omaha since the protests began; 
• A giant tanker barreled into a crowd of thousands of George Floyd protesters marching on a highway near downtown Minneapolis, but did not appear to have struck anyone; 
• It emerged that Donald Trump was taken to an underground bunker at the White House as protests raged on Friday, which was previously used by Dick Cheney on 9/11;
• Members of the president's inner circle including Hope Hicks urged him to tone down his rhetoric following his inflammatory statement about 'looting and shooting';
• In New York City, mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter Chiara de Blasio was arrested after police broke up an 'unlawful assembly' in Manhattan; 
• Derek Chauvin - the fired Minneapolis cop facing a murder charge over Floyd's death - was moved to one of the nation's most secure prisons in Minnesota as he awaits his first court date. 

At least 40 cities have imposed curfews - the most since the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968 - in light of the riots and violence and National Guard members have been activated in 15 states and Washington, DC. 

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Monday that some of the protesters that terrorized the city overnight had come prepared with tools and supplies. She said they set fires to try and draw police away. 

'We recognize that people are frustrated and mad but tearing up our beautiful city is not the way to bring attention to what is a righteous cause,' Bowser told NBC's Today. 

She said the city was 'prepared for multiple days of demonstration' and officials were working with intelligence to determine who was coming. 

In Washington DC, fury erupted even as the hour of an 11pm curfew neared and as police fired tear gas and pepper spray amid blazes in the capital.

On Sunday alone more than 50 Secret Service officers were injured so far, a senior official said to Fox News, after rioters threw bottles and Molotov cocktails at them.

People were seen throwing branches and fireworks into the fires as police advanced forward in a line in a bid to push back the crowds to send people home.   

Before the blaze at St John's Episcopal Church broke out, church officials said they were thankful that the church wasn't hit by protests the day before. The fire was set shortly after 11pm. 

'We are fortunate that the damage to the buildings is limited,' Rev. Rob Fischer, the rector of the church, said earlier on Sunday. He said that that same morning church officials had secured its valuables.

A fire was also set in Lafayette Park, located just in front of the White House, where a protester set a US flag on fire sending smoke into the air as more than 1,000 gathered and raised their fists in solidarity.   

The White House plunged into darkness last night as the executive mansion's lights were turned off in an unusual move.

Donald Trump had returned to a White House under virtual siege after traveling to Florida for the Cape Canaveral space launch on Saturday, and did not appear in public on Sunday.

While Trump remained out of sight, his advisers discussed the prospect of an Oval Office address in an attempt to ease tensions. But the notion was quickly scrapped for lack of policy proposals and the president's own seeming disinterest in delivering a message of unity. 

At least five people have been killed in protest violence after gunfire rang out in Detroit and Indianapolis and in Omaha a 22-year-old black protester was killed in a struggle with a local business owner.

A man was shot dead by law enforcement officers in Louisville on Sunday on the fourth night of unrest in the city in a shooting believed to be linked to the protests.

At least one shot was fired by someone in a large crowd which had gathered in the city, WLKY reported. Louisville's protests have also focused on the March 13 death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who knocked down her front door. 

Two Atlanta police officers were fired Sunday after video emerged showing them using excessive force during protests this weekend, including tasing and dragging two college students from a car.

Sporadic violence broke out in Boston following peaceful protests as activists threw bottles at police officers and lit a cruiser on fire. 

On Sunday afternoon, a tanker truck drove into demonstrators on the I-35 highway in Minneapolis, which had been closed to traffic. The driver was pulled from the cab and beaten by protesters before police took him into custody. It did not appear any protesters were hit by the truck.

On the West Coast, there were also clashes in Portland, Oregon, where TV footage showed small fires burning as police fired tear gas at protesters who set off fireworks.

In Santa Monica, California, upscale stores were looted along the city's popular Third Street Promenade before police moved in to make arrests. The vandalism followed a largely peaceful march.

Further south, in the Los Angeles suburb of Long Beach, a group of young men and women smashed windows of a shopping mall and looted stores before they were dispersed before a 6 p.m. curfew. 

Thousands of people gathered peacefully on Sunday afternoon for a rally in St. Paul, adjacent to Minneapolis, as state troopers surrounded the state capitol building. About 170 stores in the city have been looted, its mayor told CNN. 

Washington state governor Jay Inslee has been among those to send for the National Guard after vandalism and looting in multiple cities, calling the riots 'illegal and dangerous' but adding they should not 'detract from the anger so many feel at the deep injustice laid so ugly and bare by the death of George Floyd'. 

Looters take Soho: Smashed windows at Chanel and Bloomingdales after another wild night of riots that saw more than 250 arrests and a shooting as NYPD commissioner says 'it got ugly quick' 

Soho in New York City was ravaged by looters on Sunday night who smashed the windows of luxury stores like Gucci, Chanel and Bloomingdales to steal goods in a wild night of riots that saw more than 250 arrests, cops being injured and one man being shot. 

It remains unclear if those who smashed up the stores were part of protests against George Floyd's death, or if they belonged to different groups and were merely taking advantage of the chaos unfolding across the country. 

Across New York City on Sunday night, more than 250 people were arrested. Six cops were injured, none seriously, and a man in his twenties was shot in the abdomen after an argument with a different group of young men. 

The man was shot at 12.30am at the corner of Crosby Street and Spring Street, a stone's throw from the stores that were ransacked. He is in the hospital in a stable condition.  

NYPD cops in riot gear patrolled the streets and helicopters hovered above the neighborhood - known for its trendy restaurants, luxury clothing stores and expensive apartments - throughout the night.  

In New York City, the looters reportedly distributed goods to each other after smashing stores before police arrived. 

Dozens were arrested on Sunday night and more were still being taken into custody on Monday morning.  

Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Today that the entire weekend was 'incredibly challenging' for cops. 

'Ninety percent of yesterday went very well. Five or six thousand protesters throughout New York City, less violence as the days before. The majority of the protesters were peaceful making their point.

'When it got dark it got ugly and it got ugly quick. We had some violence, we had another incident of an individual with a Molotov cocktail in Brooklyn.

'We had an individual, two officers in a marked car in Queens, a bullet hit that car. That's clearly alarming to us. The looting. The looting turned very quickly in portions of the city, in Brooklyn, and primarily in Manhattan

'There were hundreds and hundreds of arrests in a very short time in that area and some are still going on. It was a very challenging time for police officers,' he said. 

An NYPD spokesman told DailyMail.com on Monday morning it was unclear whether the looters had come from out of the city or if they were planned groups who had nothing to do with the Floyd protests but were merely taking advantage of the escalating chaos. 

The New York Post cites witnesses who say they had a system whereby one group would enter the store and grab the goods then flee on scooters and bikes.

'The looters have been going systemically from store to store. They had people go in, grab the [items]. Then had people on Revel [scooters] take off. It was hundreds of people,' they said. 

In Manhattan a line of cops armed with plastic shields and batons were seen storming into a crowd of protesters on Sunday evening amid growing agitation. 

A circle of eight cops was seen gathering around one protester, flinging him to the ground and arresting him. Nearby also in Manhattan a car was sent up in flames Sunday evening, leaving demonstrators scrambling.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter Chiara de Blasio was arrested Saturday night alongside protesters in Greenwich Village for unlawful assembly and was later released, police said. 

De Blasio had earlier rejected the idea of a curfew, like those adopted in other major U.S. cities.

The Democrat credited police for 'tremendous restraint,' but appointed two city officials to review incidents caught on video, including an officer ripping a man's mask off to spray his face with a chemical and two police cruisers lurching into a crowd of demonstrators in Brooklyn.

'We all better get back to the humanity here,' de Blasio said. 'The protesters are human beings. They need to be treated with tremendous respect. The police officers are human beings. They need to be treated with tremendous respect.'

Elsewhere in New York, hundreds of people helped clean up Sunday after shop windows were shattered and vehicles torched in Rochester and Albany and Buffalo.

Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo said the National Guard is on standby and that hundreds of additional troopers were made available to upstate cities.

In Schenectady on Sunday, police marched with protesters, with some officers holding signs saying 'Black lives matter. Period!' Police Chief Eric Clifford and other officers knelt with protesters. 

Later, the mayor declared a state of emergency with a 7pm curfew, citing likely civil unrest.

The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized curfews.

'It isn't the protesters who need curfews, it's the police. There is no excusing the police terror we have seen this weekend against protesters,' said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the heart of protests in the country, law enforcement officials said they believe white supremacists have infiltrated demonstrations in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said Sunday night.

'They're agitators,' he said to CNN, saying there have been reports of Antifa members attending demonstrations. Antifa is short for anti-fascists and are people whose political beliefs lean to the far left and are not in line with the Democratic Party.

Such complaints are sweeping the nation as a divide emerges among peaceful protesters, rioters, and looters. 

On Sunday evening a man later identified as Bogdan Vechirko drove a tanker truck into a crowd of protesters on the Minnesota I-35W bridge on Sunday night and was later charged with assault.

No protesters were hurt but his actions were described as 'inciting a crowd of peaceful demonstrators'. 

Another closely watched protest was outside the state capitol in Minneapolis' twin city of St. Paul, where several thousand people gathered before marching down a highway.

'We have black sons, black brothers, black friends, we don't want them to die. We are tired of this happening, this generation is not having it, we are tired of oppression,' said Muna Abdi, a 31-year-old black woman who joined the protest. 

Minneapolis police later reported they had discovered caches of homemade firebombs around the two cities.  

In Los Angeles the county sheriff said people were out on the streets 'acting like terrorists' following a day that saw peaceful protests alongside widespread looting and store raids. 

'The peaceful [protesters]... tend to remain peaceful but what's embedded within them are people that are right now, they're just acting like terrorists, trying to instill fear, damage property and loot,' Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said to press Sunday. 

'There's no lawful protesters left anymore. Everybody who's here is just trying to do damage,' he added. 

Officials in LA - a city scarred by the 1992 riots over the police beating of Rodney King, an African-American man - imposed a curfew from 4pm Sunday until dawn, and the National Guard was called up for the first time since then.

In Long Beach, police chief Robert Luna called the violence 'heartbreaking' after admitting his force had been overwhelmed by the number of protesters. 

'We planned for a large group of protesters to express their anger in a positive way. We knew we were going to get agitators but we didn't expect this number,' he said. 

Addressing the looters, he said: 'We're going to come after you and we're going to put you in jail.' 

In Philadelphia officials closed off much of the city after peaceful day protests turned into utter destruction by night fall.

Store windows saw their glass windows smashed near City Hall and their shelves raided with merchandise spilling out into the streets. 

In Chicago, vandals smashed windows at a shoe store in the heavily-Mexican Little Village neighborhood and  crowds broke into a Family Dollar store at a South Side strip mall.  

By midday Sunday, six people had been shot, one fatally, 240 people were arrested and about 20 police officers injured in connection with the demonstrations, Chicago police said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who ordered an indefinite nightly 9pm curfew, said the Illinois National Guard had been requested to help keep order. 

She said access to the central business district would be restricted to only essential workers and people who live there. Public transportation was temporarily suspended, major streets blocked with sanitation trucks and Chicago River drawbridges allowing traffic into downtown remained lifted.

'Seeing the murder of George Floyd sickened me and it still does,' Lightfoot said at a news conference, taking several breaks to compose herself. 

'But rather than respond to his death as we should and focus our energy toward doing the hard work to create the change that we need, we have instead been forced to turn our focus and energy toward preventing wanton violence and destruction'

Police Superintendent David Brown said officers were working 12-hour shifts to respond. When asked by reporters about what appeared to be a lack of police intervention as some businesses were destroyed, he said the public shouldn't 'switch the blame to the cops' and commended officers' professionalism.

George Floyd died on May 25 after he was arrested by four Minneapolis police officers for allegedly using a fake $20 bill. He was brought to the ground and white cop Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for eight minutes, despite Floyd's desperate repeated pleas for help saying, 'I can't breathe'.

The horrific assault was caught on video and sent shockwaves across the nation. 

In total Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds; two minutes and 53 seconds of which occurred after Floyd became unresponsive.

After civil unrest and protests, Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and he along with the three other officers who arrested Floyd have been fired from the force following outrage over Floyd's death.

Terrifying moment giant tanker speeds into a crowd of thousands of George Floyd protesters marching on a Minneapolis highway before vigilantes pull driver from the rig 

A semi-truck barreled into a crowd of thousands of George Floyd protesters marching on a closed interstate near downtown Minneapolis on Sunday night. 

Video showed the massive rig speeding down the I-35W bridge at about 6pm local time as protesters taking up all lanes of traffic fled out of its path. 

Authorities said the truck did not appear to have struck anyone before it came to a stop in the middle of the road.  

Protesters were seen climbing on the rig and pulling the driver, identified as 35-year-old Bogdan Vechirko, out of the cabin and beating him in the road. 

Photos showed Vechirko with blood on his face and shirtless torso as protesters handed him over to police officers working to contain the situation.  

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MDPS) said the driver was placed under arrest before being taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. 

He was then booked into Hennepin County jail on a probable assault charge. He was seen with bruises and cuts on his face in his mugshot.   

Authorities said the driver's motives were unclear but his actions appeared to be deliberate. 

Interstate 35 was closed on Sunday as hundreds of peaceful protesters gathered to march south across all 10 lanes of traffic.  

It's unclear how the semi-truck, which appeared to be an oil tanker, managed to gain access to the roadway. 

The truck was traveling northbound when it came upon the demonstration and maintained a high speed as protesters screamed and scattered. 

A witness said the truck was blaring its horn and showed no sign of stopping as it neared the crowd. 

'You heard a horn,' the unnamed witness told KARE 11. 'It was barreling into that crowd and they were separating, just parting, thankfully.'

After the truck came to a stop, several protesters approached and pulled the male driver out of the front seat. 

MDPS said the driver was injured but did not offer any specifics about the confrontation with protesters. 

Minnesota Gov Tim Walz said of the incident: 'Law enforcement responded immediately. Had to clear the bridge. Incident underscores the volatile situation we have, don't know motives of the driver at this time. At this point in time to not have tragedy and many deaths is an amazing thing.' 

Authorities identified Vechirko as the driver later in the night and released a pair of mugshots taken at the Hennepin County jail, where he is being held on a probable assault charge. 

Vechirko lives in Otsego, Minnesota, and works as an independent contractor for Ken Advantage, a trucking company based in North Canton, Ohio, according to WCCO.  

Ken Advantage issued a statement saying it will fully cooperate with the investigation into the interstate incident. 

'Our hearts go out to all those who are grieving the events of this past week,' the company said.  

Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin is moved to one of the nation's most secure prisons as he awaits his first court date in the death of George Floyd

By Ben Ashford for DailyMail.com 

Fired Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was moved to one of the most secure prisons in the US Sunday night, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

In a highly unusual move, Chauvin, who is facing a murder charge in the death of George Floyd, was transferred late Sunday to Oak Park Heights Prison - Minnesota's only Level Five maximum security facility.

The 407-inmate prison boasts of never having had an escape and is also regarded as one of the country's safest, having only had one homicide in its history. Located on the border with Wisconsin, between the cities of Bayport and Stillwater, it accepts some of America's most hated and high-risk inmates.

Chauvin was due to appear in court on Monday but with Minneapolis still gripped by unrest the appearance was pushed back until June 8.

According to recent data released by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Oak Park Heights Prison currently houses 297 murderers, 69 sexual predators and eight kidnappers.

Some 46 percent of the prison population is black.

The 16-acre, rural prison is carved into the side of a hill and has been featured on the National Geographic show America's Hardest Prisons.

Cells are 7 by 10 feet with cement slab bed and toilets and sink made of steel so they can't be broken off to use as weapons. The reinforced windows are said to be so secure that it would take 12,000 hacksaw blades to cut though the steel bars.

Chauvin had spent the weekend locked in solitary confinement in a heavily fortified Minnesota jail guarded by police marksmen and barbed wire barriers, DailyMail.com can reveal.

SWAT teams armed with rifles and binoculars kept lookout from the rooftop of the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center while a phalanx of Sheriff's Deputies stood guard behind hastily erected steel fences.

Chauvin was held there Friday through Sunday because of the carnage unfolding outside jail facilities in Minneapolis.

Ramsey County deputies took no chances, sealing off the area with concrete bomb-proof barriers and mounting round the clock patrols in case protesters decided to target the jail in downtown Saint Paul.

But despite demonstrators running amok across large swathes of the Twin Cities, the expected onslaught never happened and authorities were able to quietly transfer Chauvin to downtown Minneapolis Sunday afternoon. 

TMZ reported that Chauvin has a camera focused on him all day and and cops check on his cell in person every 15 minutes.

Such checks said to be common in such a high-profile case.

It has not been revealed whether the 44-year-old ex-cop, charged with the third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of unarmed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine agonizing minutes, will appear in person or via video link.

Hennepin County has two facilities for adult inmates within Minneapolis but authorities have not released specifics about where he is being housed, stating only that Chauvin is at a 'public safety facility'.

The disgraced former lawman is yet to post the $50,000 bond needed to get out of jail after bail was set Friday at $500,000.

He has two properties, one in the leafy Oakdale suburb of Saint Paul, the other in Windermere, Florida, worth that amount combined.

However DailyMail.com understands the homes are jointly owned by his beauty pageant winner wife Kellie, 45, who would likely resist any attempt to use them as surety after vowing Friday to divorce her husband of ten years.

Kellie Chauvin released a statement on behalf of her and her family: 'She is devastated by Mr. Floyd's death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy,' it read.  

Bill de Blasio's daughter Chiara, 25, is ARRESTED during George Floyd protest in Manhattan where 'demonstrators clashed with cops and torched patrol cars'  

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter was reportedly arrested at a George Floyd protest in Manhattan on Saturday night.  

Chiara de Blasio, 25, was taken into custody around 10.30pm after cops infiltrated an 'unlawful assembly' at 12th Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan.

A police report obtained by DailyMail.com showed that she was among about 100 protesters who were arrested after they refused to move out of the roadway and were throwing objects at officers.  

'That was a real hotspot, police cars were getting burned there, people were throwing and yelling, fighting with cops,' a source told the New York Post.

'There were thousands of people in that area at that time.' 

Chiara gave 181 East End Avenue - the mayor's residence at Gracie Mansion - as her address, according to the report, but sources claimed she didn't tell arresting officers who her father was. 

She was reportedly released at about 8am Sunday after receiving a desk appearance ticket.  

Chiara's arrest came about an hour before de Blasio urged protesters to disperse.  

'We appreciate and respect all peaceful protests, but now it is time for people to go home,' the mayor said at a 11.30pm press conference in downtown Brooklyn.  

'If you went out peacefully to make a point about the need for change, you have been heard and change is coming in the city. I have no doubt about that. It's time to go home so we can all move forward.'  

New York City police said that nearly 730 people have been arrested since protests erupted in the city late last week.  

De Blasio did not mention that his daughter had been arrested during either of the two briefings he held about the protests on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  

At the Sunday morning briefing, he said that officers had showed 'tremendous restraint overall' during the weekend's demonstrations and appointed two city officials to review how the protests unfolded and how they were handled by police.He also promised an investigation into a video showing two police cruisers lurching into a crowd of demonstrators in a Brooklyn street, knocking people to the ground.   

Lincoln Memorial and other monuments on National Mall defaced with 'Black Lives Matter' graffiti while Confederate statues across the country are targeted during George Floyd protests 

The iconic Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and the National World War II Memorial are among the landmarks in the nation's capital that were vandalized amid weekend protests and defaced with graffiti. 

'In the wake of last night's demonstrations, there are numerous instances of vandalism to sites around the National Mall,' the National Park Service for the National Mall said in a tweet on Sunday along with photos of monuments covered in graffiti.

'For generations the Mall has been our nation's premier civic gathering space for non-violent demonstrations, and we ask individuals to carry on that tradition. 

A group that held a march and then a rally at the Lincoln Memorial saw the words 'Yall not tired yet?' spray-painted.

The question 'Do black Vets count?' was also spray-painted across part of the National Mall World War II Memorial.

The memorial honors and remembers the one million black veterans who served.

A National Park Service worker was later seen using a power washer to remove the paint on Sunday morning.

Several people were charged with rioting in the city.  

The Robert E. Lee statue and Daughters of Confederacy building in Virginia were also defaced by George Floyd demonstrators as several Confederate monuments were targeted in protests across the country.  

As tense protests swelled on Saturday into Sunday morning, monuments in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Mississippi were defaced. 

The presence of Confederate monuments across the South - and elsewhere in the United States - has been challenged for years, and some of the monuments targeted were already under consideration for removal. 

In the former capital of Confederacy, protesters sought to condemn police brutality and the racism woven into America's history by damaging confederate monuments in Richmond.      

The statute of Gen. Robert E. Lee, a Confederate officer in the Civil War who owned nearly 200 slaves, was covered in graffiti.

Messages like 'Amerikkka,' 'Black Lives Matter,' 'No More White Supremacy' and 'F*** 12,' which is a reference to law enforcement. 

The Stonewall Jackson Memorial, Jefferson Davis Memorial and the J.E.B. Stuart statue were also targeted. 

A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis had 'cops ran us over,' spray-painted on the base. A noose had been flung over Davis´ shoulder.  

A fire burned for a time at the headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group responsible for erecting many Confederate statues and fighting their removal.

The building, too, was covered in graffiti, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. It was later extinguished by local firefighters. 

In the coastal city of Norfolk, protesters climbed a Confederate monument and spray-painted graffiti on its base, according to photos posted by a Virginian-Pilot journalist.

Norfolk is among the Virginia cities that have signaled intent to remove their Confederate monuments. In February, state lawmakers approved legislation that would give cities autonomy to do so.

A commission in Richmond recommended removing one of five Confederate statues along the city's famed Monument Avenue.    

The debate around removing Confederate monuments came to a head in Virginia in 2017, when white supremacists and protestors clashed at the Unite the Right rally.  

In Mississippi, the words 'spiritual genocide' in black spray paint, along with red handprints, stained the sides of a Confederate monument on the University of Mississippi campus Saturday. 

Photos shared by Skye Spiehler on Facebook appeared to show the one young man responsible for the defaced statue. One person was arrested at the scene.  

Ole Miss administrators, student leaders and faculty leaders have recommended moving the statue - installed in 1906 and a rallying point in 1962 for people who rioted to oppose the university's court-ordered integration - from a central spot to a Civil War cemetery that's in a more secluded location on campus, but the state College Board has delayed action.

Critics have said its display near the university's main administrative building sends a signal that Ole Miss glorifies the Confederacy and glosses over the South's history of slavery.