Demonstrators march through Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the US, June 19, 2020. New Yorkers on Friday marked Juneteenth, the day commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, with marches and protests as the country is having a new moment of reckoning about racial injustice. Photo: Xinhua

Philadelphia is planning to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus in Marconi Plaza, an urban park square located in south of the city, Mayor Jim Kenney's office announced Thursday.

Tensions between people pro and against the statue "have deteriorated to a concerning public safety situation," the office said in a statement.

Columbus became a symbol of Italians' contributions to American history, but "scholars and historians have uncovered first-hand documentation establishing that his arrival in the Americas also marked the beginning of the displacement and genocide of Indigenous people," the statement said.

The largest city of eastern U.S. state Pennsylvania will ask the Philadelphia Art Commission to approve the removal of the statue on July 22, and will allow public input through written statements until July 21, according to a CNN report.

In many cities across the country, including Boston, Minneapolis and Virginia's capital city Richmond, statues of Christopher Columbus are being dismounted or defaced amid protests against police brutality and racism and debates over confederate statues and other controversial monuments.