The Monument to Christopher Columbus at Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City, Mexico. (File photo)

Authorities in Mexico have taken down a statue of Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, that protesters threatened to topple in the capital during a planned event for the commemoration of his arrival in the Americas.

The government of Mexico City removed the statue from Reforma Avenue in Mexico City on the request of city officials for restoration on Saturday.

This, however, came just as widespread calls were circulating on social media for the demolition of the monument, days before an event planned for the commemoration of Columbus’ arrival in the continent on Monday.

Protest groups organized a rally called We’re going to knock it down.

Authorities said the entire sculpture complex will be deeply restored. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said the monument would be returned after the restoration work was complete.

Columbus, who first landed in the Americas at the end of the 15th century and has for long been hailed as the so-called discoverer of The New World, is now regarded by many to have spurred years of genocide against indigenous groups in the continent.

Back in July, thousands of people signed an online petition, calling on the government of the Mexican capital to remove the sculpture.

The call came as historical monuments, with links to colonialism and slavery, were being defaced or toppled across Europe and the US, amid anti-racial protests in the wake of the killing of African-American man George Floyd at the hands US police in Minneapolis in May.

The statues of some of the architects of Europe’s empire building were also torn down.

Mexico asks Pope Francis to apologize for church role in atrocities

In a related development in Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked Pope Francis to apologize to the nation for the Catholic church’s role in the oppression of indigenous people after Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico 500 years ago.

The Catholic Church is accused of playing a key role as Spain colonized the Americas and spread its empire, setting up missions to convert indigenous people to Christianity.

The Vatican has not responded to the request yet.

The president made the same request last year to Spain’s King Felipe, saying that the incursion ...was tremendously violent, painful and offensive.

Mexico wants the Spanish state to admit its historical responsibility for these offenses and offer the appropriate apologies and political redress, he added.

The president said that his government prepared a list of crimes that would be presented to the Spanish kingdom.

The Spanish government, however, rejected the call for apology, with then Foreign Minister and now EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying, Spain will not offer those extemporaneous apologies.

It looks a bit strange to demand an apology for events that occurred 500 years ago, he added then.