University removes Confederate statues

The University of Texas has quickly removed statues of Robert E Lee and other prominent Confederate figures from the main area of its Austin campus just hours after the school’s president ordered they be taken down.

University president Greg Fenves abruptly announced on Sunday that the statues would be removed, saying such monuments had become “symbols of modern white supremacy and neonazism”.

Crews worked through the night amid a heavy police presence.

The school blocked off the area, and some arguments occurred among those gathered.

However, all the statues of Lee, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston and Confederate Postmaster General John H Reagan were successfully taken down. By late yesterday morning, people walking by were stopping to look at the four pedestals, empty except for some construction debris and the bolts that once held the statues in place.