Thomas Jefferson statue in front of Portland high school is downed by protesters as several monuments linked to slavery are defaced and removed during demonstrations

A statue of Thomas Jefferson outside an Oregon high school named for him was toppled over by a group of protesters during a demonstration this weekend.

On Sunday, a crowd of protesters gathered outside of Jefferson High School in Portland ahead of a march organized over the death of George Floyd.

As the crowd of more than 1,000 residents left for a nearby park, a smaller group of protesters reportedly arrived and pulled down the Thomas Jefferson statue.

Footage of the incident shared by PDX_Resistance shows at least nine people wearing face masks standing outside the high school near the statue.

It has since been removed from school property and district officials said they would decide whether or not to reinstate the stature after listening to the community, Fox12 reported.

+10

A statue of Thomas Jefferson placed outside of Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, was pulled down by a group of protesters on Sunday (pictured)

A rope is tied around the statue's neck and one member of the group appears to use a hammer to loosen the structure.

After a few moments of tugging, the statue slams onto the concrete ground as the group cheers and applauds.

The statue fell onto its side and a dent was visible in the concrete where it landed, Oregon Live reports. 

Earlier in the day, the base of the statue had been covered in graffiti reading 'Black Lives Matter' and 'George Floyd 8:46,' in reference to the amount of time an officer knelt on Floyd's neck.

+10

A group of at least nine people were seen on video removing the Thomas Jefferson statue on Sunday outside the high school 

George Floyd, 46, was an African-American man who died after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on Memorial Day in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

A number of protests opposing his death and systemic racism have broken out across the United States. 

The exact time the statue was removed is unclear, but it was discovered when the large group of protesters returned to the high school that evening around 10pm.

The group had held the march in a historically black neighborhood that had been gentrified.

Portland Public Schools data has reportedly shown 32 per cent of students at Jefferson High School are black, the largest percentage of any high school in Oregon. 

'There’s an interesting piece of history up here... Mr. Thomas is all beside himself,' one organizer quipped amid cheers.

+10

The unidentified group used a rope and what appeared to be a hammer to loosen the statue's base 

+10

Protesters cheered and applauded when the Thomas Jefferson statue finally fell onto the concrete ground 

'We’re taking this city back. One school at a time. One racist statue at a time.' 

Several monuments linked to the Confederacy and slavery have been downed in recent weeks as thousands protest racism and police brutality.

Jefferson was credited with writing 'all men are created equal' into the US Constitution, but during his life he owned more than 600 slaves.