Baltimore’s four Confederate monuments are removed under cover of darkness as the city council swiftly honors its promise to take down the divisive statues after violent clashes in Charlottesville
Work crews used heavy machinery to haul the monuments away in Baltimore early Wednesday morning
The monuments torn down included a Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statue and one dedicated to the Confederate Women of Maryland
A Roger Taney monument and a statue for soldiers and sailors was also removed
Crews began removing the city’s Confederate monuments late Tuesday and finished around 5.30am on Wednesday
The dismantling of the monuments comes after a deadly rally by white nationalists protesting plans to remove a Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said she acted swiftly to avoid the same violence as Charlottesville
By Emily Crane
DailyMail.com
16 August 2017
Confederate monuments were torn down down in Baltimore overnight just days after white nationalists led a deadly protest over the planned removal of a statue in Virginia.
Work crews used heavy machinery to haul the divisive monuments away in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
A monument to Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army in the American Civil War, and Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was dismantled from the city’s Wyman Park Dell.
A crane was pictured removing a monument dedicated to the Confederate Women of Maryland around 3am in Bishop Square Park and placing it on a flatbed truck 45 minutes later.
The Roger Taney statue in Mount Vernon and a monument for soldiers and sailors on Mount Royal Avenue were also removed.
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said crews began removing the city’s Confederate monuments late Tuesday and finished around 5.30am on Wednesday.
‘It’s done,’ Pugh told the Baltimore Sun.
‘They needed to come down. My concern is for the safety and security of our people. We moved as quickly as we could.’
The mayor personally watched as workers removed the statues in the dark.
The city council approved the removal of four statues on Monday after a year of indecision about what to do with the monuments.
‘Following the acts of domestic terrorism carried out by white supremacist terrorist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend, cities must act decisively and immediately by removing these monuments,’ Baltimore city councilman Brandon Scott wrote in a resolution calling for the removal of the statues.
‘The folks that are displayed in these monuments were traitors to the United States of America, and we should not honor traitors with monuments.
‘We should not have these anywhere for public display. These monuments are being used as beacons of lightning for vile racism.’
The Rest…HERE
