Protesters pull down Confederate statue in North Carolina
US - A peaceful protest organized to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville, Virginia, took a turn Monday when protesters toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina.
Demonstrators gathered at the old Durham County courthouse around the Confederate Soldiers Monument. The monument, dedicated in 1924, depicts a soldier holding a gun on top of a concrete pillar. The pillar is engraved “In memory of the boys who wore gray.” During the protest, a person climbed a ladder and tied a rope to the top of the statue as the crowd chanted, “We are the revolution.” Protesters pulled the rope and erupted in cheers as the statue toppled onto the ground. Several people ran up to the mangled statue, kicking it and spitting on it. “The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable, but there is a better way to remove these monuments”, tweeted North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. From New York to Indiana to California, numerous demonstrations have been organized since Saturday, when Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville while counterprotesting a white nationalist rally. Many demonstrators connected with each other through public Facebook events calling for supporters. “Emergency Protest Stand in Solidarity with Charlottesville,” reads the Durham protest event page. At the end of the event description it reads: “Tear down all white supremacist Confederate statues now!” Durham City Police said no arrests were made because the incident occurred on county property. CNN has reached out to county officials for a statement. (CNN.COM)