University of Texas in Austin removes Confederate statues

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

University President Greg Fenves abruptly announced late Sunday that the statues would be removed, saying such monuments have become “symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism.” Crews worked through the night amid a heavy police presence.

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

But all the statues of Lee, Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston and Confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan were taken down.

The university’s classes don’t begin until next week.

Fenves said the statues would be moved to the Briscoe Center for American History on campus.

As the statues were being taken down, less than 30 people, both supporters and opponents of Fenves’ order, congregated behind barricades near the statues. Among them was Mark Peterson, 22, who identified himself as a University of Houston student. He was seething at the removal of the statues.

“I hate the erasure of history and my people’s history — people of European descent who built this country,” he said. “It burns me to my core.”

Mike Lowe, 37, an activist for the removal of Confederate statues, also attended the removal.

“They have no other reasons than ‘you are erasing our history.’ ” Their reasoning is flawed, he said. “These monuments represent white supremacy, and black lives haven’t mattered in this county the same as a white man’s matters.”

ERIC GAY/AP Confederate statues are secured to a trailer Monday after they were removed in Austin.