The city of Charlottesville, Va., on Friday said it plans to remove two bronze statues of Confederate generals on Saturday, including one of Robert E. Lee that was the site of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.
A second statue — of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson — will also be removed, according to a news release from the city.
Only the statues themselves will be taken down on Saturday, with the stone bases to be removed at a later time.
The city government said preparations for the change would start Friday, including the installation of protective fencing around the area.
The move comes more than five years after the city first received a petition to remove the statue of Lee.
Charlottesville first approved the removal of the statues shortly after the 2017 white nationalist rally, where one counterprotester was hit by a car and killed. A number of city groups then filed a lawsuit against the city to preserve the monuments.
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