The monument to a soldier of the Confederate States Army, erected in 1909, was dismantled on Saturday, September 12, in the American city of Charlottesville, near the place where clashes between left-wing radicals and ultra-right took place in 2017, according to The New York Times.
A vote to demolish the memorial was held in the summer. It is noted that the demolition of the monument was met with the approval of the assembled people. The events were broadcast online.
Authorities have erected fences to keep people out of the workplace, citing the need to maintain social distance due to the coronavirus.
At the end of May, in the wake of mass protests against police brutality caused by the death of African American George Floyd during his arrest, the spontaneous demolition of monuments began in the United States.
So, on June 10, protesters in Richmond brought down a monument to Christopher Columbus, left-wing activists accused the discoverer of the mainland of genocide of the indigenous population of America.
Later it became known about the intention of the New York authorities to dismantle the equestrian monument to former US President Theodore Roosevelt at the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History.
In August 2017, clashes took place in Charlottesville between far-right and left-wing radical activists. During the clashes, far-right supporter James Alex Fields Jr. deliberately ran into a crowd of people, as a result of which a woman died and 38 people were injured. Fields received a life sentence for this crime. Two more police officers were killed in the crash of a helicopter monitoring the situation in the city.