Statues central to protest stay for now
UNITED STATES: City councillors in Charlottesville, Virginia, voted unanimously yesterday to cover two statues of Confederate war heroes in black fabric after ejecting spectators from a chaotic council meeting as residents demanded answers over how a recent white nationalist rally turned deadly.
Many activists and local residents crowded into the meeting, which began on Tuesday. It was the first council meeting since the August 12 rally, when a car ploughed into a group of counterprotesters and killed a 32-year-old woman.
Many at the meeting shouted at the councillors and mayor Mike Signer, forcing them at one point to leave the chamber.
Videos on social media showed some in the crowd yelling ‘‘shame’’ and ‘‘shut it down’’ and calling for Signer’s resignation. A photo online showed two people holding a sign that read ‘‘Blood On Your Hands’’ behind the council seats.
When council members returned to the chamber after spectators were removed, they voted to cover the statues of General Robert E Lee and Thomas ‘‘Stonewall’’ Jackson, said a city spokeswoman, Paige Rice.
‘‘Council voted unanimously at their meeting to shroud the statues to reflect the city’s mourning,’’ Rice said.
The planned removal of a statue of Lee in a downtown Charlottesville park had galvanised white nationalists to rally there on August 12 in protest. Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia.
The rally highlights a persistent debate in the US South over the display of the Confederate battle flag and other symbols of the rebel side in the Civil War, which was fought over the issue of slavery.
In the wake of the Charlottesville rally, other cities have acted to remove monuments to the Confederacy.
Yesterday, several hundred people rallied at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill for the removal of ‘‘Silent Sam’’, a Confederate soldier statue on the campus. ’’Hey, hey! Ho, ho! These racist statues got to go!’’ chanted a crowd that was kept away from the statue by two rings of barricades and a heavy police presence.
In Charlottesville, the council voted to cover the Lee and Jackson statues with black fabric for now because of a pending lawsuit challenging the city’s authority to remove the statue of Lee.
During the council meeting, activists and residents questioned the police response to the August 12 unrest and criticised city leaders for not heeding warnings in advance of the rally, Rice said.
– Reuters
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