City removes Confederate statue at centre of deadly 2017 protest

Onlookers cheered as the statue was put on a truck and driven away

The monument of Robert E. Lee is starpped down and removed. AP

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was taken down in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, nearly four years after white supremacist protests over plans to remove it led to clashes in which a woman was run down by a car and killed.

Onlookers cheered as the statue was put on a lorry and driven away. City authorities had welcomed observers from 6am to the site of the statue in Market Street Park.

Statues honouring leaders of the proslavery Confederate side in the American Civil War have become a focus of protests against racism in recent years.

“I’m ecstatic that we’re here now. It’s sad that it’s taken so much to get us to this point. But this is an incredible day,” said Don Gathers, a local Black activist who long advocated for the statue’s removal.

After the removal of the Lee statue, the focus will now move to a second park in the city where a statue of Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson is due for removal, according to city spokesperson Brian Wheeler.

“Taking down this statue is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America, grapple with the sin of being willing to destroy Black people for economic gain,” Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who is African-American.

Zyahna Bryant, a Black high school student who started the most recent petition to oust the statue, was stood beside the mayor as the general lost his podium.

“To the young people out there, I hope that this empowers you to speak up on the issues that matter, and to take charge in your own cities and communities,” Ms Bryant said. “No platform for white supremacy. No platform for racism. And no platform for hate.”

The city's planned removal of the Lee statue in 2017 prompted a rally by white nationalists that turned deadly when a car driven into a crowd killed a counter-protester, 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Weeks later the Charlottesville city council unanimously ordered the Jackson statue to be removed.

Citizens including the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued Charlottesville over the removal plans. In April, Virginia's highest court ruled the city could remove the two Confederate statues, overturning a state Circuit Court decision that had upheld the lawsuit.

The city installed protective fencing and designated no-parking zones around the parks in anticipation of Saturday's removals.

Asked whether the city was aware of any planned protests, Mr Wheeler said, “an indication of how we feel about this is, we're inviting the public to join us in the park.”

“We think a lot of our community members really want to be there to see this happen.”