Washington July 4 (UNI) Amid concerns of Covid-19, US President Donald Trump has presided over an event to mark July 4 celebrations at Mount Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore features the carved faces of four US presidents.
Addressing the event the President said it would "stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom".
"This monument will never be desecrated, these heroes will never be defaced," he told a cheering crowd on Friday, BBC reported.
Activists have long taken issue with the monument, which was created on land sacred to the Sioux tribe. Two of the former presidents depicted - George Washington and Thomas Jefferson - were slave-owners.
The President's decision to hold an event there has been criticised at a time when statues of Confederate generals and slave-owners were being re-evaluated, and in many cases pulled down, amid anti-racism protests.
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