A Confederate monument in Georgia has been removed by workers who used a crane to remove the figure from its pedestal.
MCDONOUGH, Ga. – A Confederate monument in Georgia was removed Wednesday night by workers who used a crane to remove the figure from its pedestal.
Teams began removing the monument from McDonough Square on Tuesday night and finished it early on Wednesday morning, WSB-TV reported.
The Henry County Commission voted to remove the statue, which has been on the site for more than 100 years, earlier this month amid national protests against racism and police brutality.
Multiple law enforcement agencies were present during the move, where one person was arrested and protesters surrounding the statue were forced to leave the sidewalks, WAGA-TV reported.
“We were delayed, our freedom of expression was delayed because we weren’t allowed to get off the sidewalk around here,” resident Stanley Layfield told the media.
The removal occurs when Confederate statues and other figures that many see as symbols of racism continue to be torn down across the United States.
In Georgia, a Confederate monument in a suburban Atlanta plaza was knocked down last month, and another monument outside a county courthouse in Conyers was removed earlier this month.
A law passed by Governor Brian Kemp last year protects Confederate symbols, preventing them from being altered or discarded, but local leaders are increasingly taking action after national protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other black victims.
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