Charlottesville demolished the Confederate statue at the center of the 2017 deadly protest Reuters

Julia Hart

(Reuters)-Nearly four years after white supremacists protested against a plan to demolish it, which led to clashes, on Saturday, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was demolished and killed.

Soon after the removal of the Lee statue, the statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was also removed from the pedestal in another city park. When the statues were loaded into a truck and drove away, the onlookers who had gathered a few hours earlier cheered.

In recent years, statues commemorating the leaders of the Confederate side who supported slavery in the American Civil War have become the focus of protests against racism.

The University Town’s plan to demolish the statue of Li in 2017 triggered a rally of white supremacists that killed a 32-year-old anti-protester Heather Hay when a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi car drove into the crowd. Yeah (Heather Heyer), this rally has become deadly.

A few weeks later, the Charlottesville City Council unanimously ordered the removal of the Jackson statue.

Citizens, including the Virginia branch, the son of a Confederate veteran, sued Charlottesville for the demolition plan. In April, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the city can delete https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-race-virginia-statue/virginias-high-court-approves-removal-of-confederate-statues- The two Confederate statues idUSKBN2BO67D overturned the state circuit court ruling in support of citizen suits.

Officials said in a statement on Friday that Charlottesville will keep the statues until a final decision is made on what to do with them. The statement said the city installed protective fences around the park and designated no-parking areas in response to Saturday’s demolition work.

When asked if the city government is aware of any planned protests, city government spokesperson Brian Wheeler said, “Our feelings about this show that we are inviting the public to join our park.

“We think many of our community members really want to see this happen there.”