A demonstrator at a peaceful protest in Albuquerque demanding the removal of a statue of a controversial Spanish conquistador was shot by a right-wing militia group member on Monday night.
The militia group, whose members appeared at the event carrying semiautomatic rifles and wearing other tactical gear, calls itself the New Mexico Civil Guard. They had come to the protest in order to protect the statue of “La Jornada,” better known as Juan de Oñate, a conquistador who in 1599 had decimated a village of Indigenous people in the territory that became New Mexico.
Only 200 individuals from a village of 2,000 survived the onslaught of Oñate’s forces in what is known as the Acoma Massacre. Indigenous men who survived had one foot amputated and were enslaved for 20 years after the event. Children were captured, and sent off to be raised by missionaries, with many likely becoming enslaved themselves. On the 400th anniversary of that incident, Native activists cut off the right foot of a bronze Oñate statue installed on that occasion in Alcalde, New Mexico.
As protesters engaged in a peaceful demonstration against the statue of Oñate, one took out a pickaxe. Members of the New Mexico Civil Guard responded, and that’s when tensions escalated, according to reporting from The Albuquerque Journal.
A scuffle broke out, and a man in a blue shirt, who appeared to have engaged in violence against protesters earlier, fell to the ground. Demonstrators confronted the man, who then pulled out pepper spray from his pocket. After that, he pulled out a gun, firing five bullets toward those confronting him, hitting a single man. That individual is currently in serious but stable condition, The Washington Post reported.
According to the group’s Facebook page, which appears to have been removed or made private since the event took place, the New Mexico Civil Guard aims to be an organization that provides “rapid local lawful response to emergency and dangerous situations, including Natural disaster, humanitarian crisis, civil disturbances, and civil [defense].” Many of its members are former military and/or law enforcement personnel.
O’Rion Petty, the local group’s captain, claimed last week that members would use non-lethal force against protesters at demonstrations taking place in the city, resorting to violence only when they deemed it necessary.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham criticized the group’s presence at the event, and their use of violence and intimidation against protesters.
“Although we are still learning more about the situation, I am horrified and disgusted beyond words by the reports of violence at a protest Monday night in Albuquerque,” the governor said in a statement. “The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard,’ were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force.”
In a series of tweets late Monday, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller responded to the shooting by announcing the statue would be removed from its current site.
“Our hearts go out [to] the victim, his family, and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight. This sculpture has now become an urgent matter of public safety,” Keller wrote. “In order to contain the public safety risk, the City will be removing the statue until the appropriate civic institutions can determine next steps.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 98 new monthly donors before midnight tonight.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy