Confederate Statue Removed in Charlottesville

Crowds cheered as a crane removed a statue of a Confederate soldier in Charlottesville, Virginia, the scene of a far-right rally three years ago.

The bronze figure, known as “At Ready”, was removed on September 12.

There has been an increased focus on monuments connected to slavery in the wake of mass anti-racism protests in the US and abroad this year.

A number of statues have been removed as a result.

Memorials to the Confederacy, a group of southern states that fought in favor of slavery against the Union in the American Civil War of 1861-1865, have been among those targeted.

However, there has been opposition to the removal of such symbols, with President Donald Trump saying earlier this year that he would “not even consider” renaming military bases after Confederate generals.

The statue was taken down from its plinth in front of the Albemarle County courthouse, where it had stood since 1909.

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People gathered nearby danced to music as the monument, along with a cannon, were removed.

Albemarle County voted to dismantle the statue in August, the first decision to be made under a new law for removing Civil War monuments in Virginia introduced earlier this year.

In 2017, Charlottesville became the site of the largest white nationalist rally in decades, following a plan to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Avowed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. was later sentenced to life in prison after driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others.

In June, Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam announced that another statue of General Lee would be removed, this time in the state capital of Richmond.

The decision came amid mass protests across the US following the death of George Floyd in police custody.

However, a judge has since granted a temporary injunction to stop the statue’s removal.