Charlottesville To Remove Confederate Statues From Parks Saturday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — The city of Charlottesville will remove statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson from city parks Saturday, nearly four years after the deadly Unite the Right rally against the Lee statue's proposed removal.

Preparations around Market Street Park and Court Square Park near the city's Downtown Mall began Friday, including the installation of protective fencing and the posting of notices identifying no-parking zones.

On Saturday, only the statues will be removed. Their stone bases will be left in place temporarily and removed at a later date, the city said Friday.

Designated public viewing areas for the removals will be established in both parks where the statues are located.

The planned removals come after a yearslong effort to remove the Lee statue. As those plans emerged five years ago, the Lee monument became a rallying point for white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other right-wing groups, culminating in the violent Unite the Right rally in August 2017.

Each statue is located about four blocks from where 32-year-old Heather Heyer, a Charlottesville resident, was killed when a car plowed into a group of anti-fascist demonstrators on Aug. 12, 2017. James Fields Jr., who participated in the Unite the Right rally, was found guilty in 2018 of killing Heyer.

Because of lawsuits and a state law that addressed the removal of "war memorials," the city had been unable to act on removing the statues until now.

Under a resolution passed by Charlottesville City Council on June 7, the city manager is authorized by the council to remove the statues for placement in storage.

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The Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue is located in Market Street Park near the west end of the Downtown Mall. The Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson statue is located two blocks to the east in Court Square Park.

The City Council has sole authority to determine what happens to the two statues once they have been removed. The city manager is not authorized to destroy the statues or to sell them without further action by council, according to the city.

Both statues will be stored in a secure location on city property until the City Council makes a final decision on what to do with the statues.

During the past month, the city has requested expressions of interest from any museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield interested in acquiring the statues.

The city manager has received 10 responses — six out of state and four in-state — that are all under review. The city said it remains open to additional expressions of interest.

Several streets and sidewalks in downtown Charlottesville will be closed all day Saturday for the removal of the statues.

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