George Floyd protests: officer bailed as protesters topple Confederate statue in Virginia – live

A statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, is the latest statue to be torn down by protesters. In the last couple of days statues of Christopher Columbus have also been targeted.

The statue, which stood on Richmond’s Monument Avenue, was pulled down shortly before 11pm according to local news reports. Jefferson was a Mississippi Democrat who served as the president of the Confederate states from 1861 until 1865.

Police were on the scene and videos on social media showed the statue being towed away as a crowd cheered.

Among graffiti painted on the Davis monument was the question: “How much more blood?”

The protests over the killing of George Floyd have spread globally and lead to the toppling and removal of statues in several countries.

A statue of slaver Edward Colston, which was thrown into Bristol’s harbour in England by protesters at the weekend, has been retrieved from the water by local authorities. They say they are keeping it in a secure location while deciding what to do with it.

One of the four former white Minneapolis police officers who were charged over the death of George Floyd was released on bail on Wednesday.

Reuters report that Thomas Lane, 37, had been held on $750,000 bail and was freed from Hennepin County jail.

He was one of three officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter over Floyd’s death on 25 May.

Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, has previously stated that Lane was only on his fourth day of patrol duty and that Derek Chauvin was his training officer, whom he should obey. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

“What was my client supposed to do but follow what his training officer said?” Gray said in an earlier court hearing.

Chauvin remains in jail on $1.25 million bail. The other two officers, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, also remain in jail on $750,000 bail.

Hi, welcome to our US politics and protests live blog today. Here’s what you might need to get caught up on before we start:

• The US now has more than 2 million recorded cases of coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. There have been over 112,000 deaths
• Thomas Lane, one of the officers involved in George Floyd’s killing, has been released after posting $750,000 bail
• Protesters tore down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia
• Donald Trump has announced he will resume in-person campaign rallies in Tulsa, Oklahoma next Friday. The rally will take place on Juneteenth, in the city where a 1921 massacre of Black people occurred.
• Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, spoke before the House judiciary committee on Wednesday – read his full testimony.

Donald Trump is going to be in Texas today, where he will be fundraising for his re-election campaign, and attending a round table at Gateway Church in North Dallas which is modestly titled “Transition to Greatness: Restoring, Rebuilding, and Renewing”

We are also expecting new jobless figures today – indications are that the number may hit 45 million.

I’m Martin Belam, and I’ll be running our live coverage before handing over to my New York colleagues in a couple of hours. You can contact me on martin.belam@theguardian.com