Jun 7, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Protesters tear down statue of Confederate general in Richmond

Confederate statue torn down

Photo: Alexa Welch Edlund/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP

Demonstrators on Saturday pulled down a statue of Williams Carter Wickham, a Confederate general during the Civil War, in Richmond, Virginia, AP reports.

Why it matters: Confederate monuments have been a flashpoint in the protests against police brutality and racism that have swept across the country over the past two weeks.

  • Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week that the state will remove the famous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond's historic Monument Avenue.

The big picture: The toppling of the Wickham statue followed a day of largely peaceful protests in the Virginia capital.

  • A Richmond police spokesperson told AP that she did not know if there were any arrests or damage done to the statue.
  • Some of Wickham’s descendants urged the city to remove the statue in 2017, according to AP.

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