U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday the signing of an executive order (EO) aimed to protect American memorials, monuments, and statues from destruction and other forms of vandalism.

This came as historic monuments and statues have become targets of vandalism in recent protests, the Fox News reported.

Trump had been teasing the said action for the past weeks. In a report from The Washington Times, the president said he skipped a weekend at his golf resort in New Jersey to stay in Washington.

"I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure [law and order] is enforced," Trump tweeted.

"I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and [combating] recent Criminal Violence," he added.

He continued by threatening those who try to put down said monuments with "long prison terms."

In the EO, the following acts are considered prohibited: desecration of public monuments, vandalism of government property, acts of violence that failed to protect federal statues and others. It also stipulates assistance towards the protection of the monuments.

It states that "the heads of all executive departments and agencies shall examine their respective grant programs" and apply the order's policies to the extent "appropriate and consistent with applicable law."

Since the rise of protests in wake of George Floyd's death in the hands of law enforcers, instances of vandalism occurred, defacing monuments like the statues of Confederate generals and other memorials.

There are 15 suspects photographed vandalizing the statue of President Andrew Jackson near the White House, but were stopped by law enforcers this week. The FBI has issued a "wanted" poster for them.

Meanwhile, protesters in San Francisco were reported toppling the statue of Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War leader of the Union Army. Other reported incidents of vandalism were the tearing down of statues of St. Junipero Serra and Francis Scott Key.

While there is already the existing Veterans' Memorial Preservation Act, it is not clear how the new EO is different from it.

According to a report in CNN, in essence, the order directs the attorney general to enforce the existing law and prioritize those who damage government-owned monuments.

It cites federal law that "authorizes a penalty of up to 10 years" imprisonment for the willful injury of Federal property."

In the CNN report, it was pointed out that Trump allies had been pushing the administration to take a stance on racial issues, one even put it, "pick a lane" and display leadership over the issue.

Trump "took decisive action to put an end to this lawlessness and protect American streets from vandalism and mob violence," said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in a statement issued on Friday. "President Trump will never allow violence to control our streets, rewrite our history, or harm the American way of life."

The Trump administration is starting a major effort to protect national monuments that the president believes are part of the American heritage, going as far as assigning U.S. Marshals to oversee them.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was personally instructed by Trump to restore the only Confederate stature in Washington, D.C., after it was town down, the CNN reported.