A crowd of protesters tried to pull down a statue of seventh US President Andrew Jackson near the White House on Monday evening as police responded with pepper spray to break up new protests that erupted in Washington.

Several-hundred protestors were pushed back by at least 100 security force personnel after they had thrown ropes around the statue of Jackson.

Videos posted on social media showed that the protesters climbing on the statue, tied ropes around it, and tried to pull it off its pedestal.

A wave of nationwide rallies calling for racial justice has swept the US since May 25, when George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.