Crews removed two Confederate monuments in Raleigh, North Carolina, Saturday morning after protesters wrecked the two bronze soldiers which stood atop the 75-foot Confederate monument at the capitol Friday night.
The removals come within 24 hours after protesters hung one statue of a cavalryman by its neck using a streetlamp and dragged another statue through the streets to the Wake County Courthouse, the News & Observer reported.
That statue was later confiscated by police in a golf cart.
Crews removed a monument dedicated to the North Carolina Women of the Confederacy back in 1914 and the Henry Wyatt Monument, depicting the first Confederate soldier to die in battle, dedicated back in 1912.
Around 60 people gathered around the work crews, chanting, “Lift every voice and sing,” and “Black power.”
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin referred questions as to why the statues were taken down to the Highway Patrol and the State Capitol Police Saturday afternoon, as they are the lead agencies in charge of the monuments, she told the Observer.
Protesters across the country have been tearing down monuments — Confederate or not — as racial tensions boil over. In Portland, Oregon, a statue of George Washington was torn down and draped in a U.S. flag on Thursday, and in San Francisco, California, a statue of Union general Ulysses Grant was torn down on Friday.