Videos have emerged showing a group of protesters in the US capital dismantling a statue in honor of Confederate general Albert Pike on Friday evening. Activists made several unsuccessful attempts to tear down the monument, and even had to take a break to review their strategy before eventually knocking the statue from its pedestal – with local police making no attempt to intervene at any point in the endeavour.

After the statue came crashing down – to jubilant cheers from the crowd – the activists set it on fire. A video shows one of the protesters pouring what appears to be a flammable liquid onto the burning statue while the rest of the group applauded. At one point, a chant of “No justice, no peace” broke out.

Shortly after the 11-foot high statue – which was the only outdoor sculpture in DC honoring a Confederate general (although he was depicted as a Freemason and not a soldier) – was upended, Trump took a swipe at police for making no attempt to thwart the monument’s destruction.

“The D.C. Police are not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn,” Trump tweeted, adding that those responsible for the act of vandalism “should be immediately arrested.”

“A disgrace to our Country,” he thundered.

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