Galway Bay fm newsroom:
A Spanish Arch sculpture representing Christopher Columbus' visit to Galway in the 1400s has been vandalized.
The monument was covered with black spray paint in the last 24 hours.
The statue has been the focus of a campaign to have it removed in recent days, headed by People Before Profit Galway.
PBP Galway argues that the memorial gives no historical context to Columbus' voyage, or the human rights violations that were carried-out in the Americas under his command - including slavery and the genocide of indigenous people.
The call for removal comes as Black Lives Matter protests in the US and across the world has seen the removal of numerous statues and memorials of controversial figures.
The monument was presented to Galway by the city of Genoa, Columbus's home city, in 1992 to commemorate both the 500th anniversary of the voyage to the New World and the visit of Columbus to Galway in 1477.
