Philadelphia Removes Controversial Statue Of Ex-Mayor Frank Rizzo After Protests

After years of vandalism and calls for its removal, the hulking statue of Philadelphia’s late mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo was removed Tuesday by the city. Rizzo’s political career and heavy-handed police tactics in the late 1960s and ’70s were seen as racially polarizing and unfairly targeted minorities and people of color.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, who ordered the statue’s removal late Tuesday night, called it a “deplorable monument to racism, bigotry, and police brutality for members of the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and many others.”

“The treatment of these communities under Mr. Rizzo’s leadership was among the worst periods in Philadelphia’s history,” Kenney said in a statement. “The battle for equal rights and justice is still being fought decades later, and our city is still working to erase that legacy.”

The massive 9-foot bronze statue, which depicted the former two-term mayor waving from the steps of the city’s Municipal Services Building across from City Hall, had been defaced during recent protests over the death of Black Minnesota man George Floyd, who died while in police custody.

Photos of the statue prior to its removal showed it covered in red and white paint, with “FTP” (short for “fuck the police”) written on its chest.

The statue was a gift to the city from Rizzo’s family, friends and supporters in 1998, according to the Association for Public Art. His supporters credited him with being tough on crime and bolstering working-class citizens.