Protesters topple Confederate statue in Virginia capital

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A small group of demonstrators toppled a statue of a Confederate general in the the former capital of the Confederacy late Saturday, following a day of largely peaceful protests in the Virginia city.

The statue of Gen. Williams Carter Wickham was pulled from its pedestal in Monroe Park, a Richmond police spokeswoman said. She said she did not know if there were any arrests or damage done to the statue.

A rope had been tied around the Confederate statue, which has stood since 1891, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, adding that someone urinated on the statue after it was pulled down. Photos and video from the newspaper showed the what appeared to be red paint splashed or sprayed on the statue.

In 2017, some of Wickham’s descendants urged the city to remove the statue.



The statue of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham lies on the ground after protesters pulled it down Saturday, June 6, 2020, in Monroe Park in Richmond, Va. The statue had stood in the park since 1891. (Alexa Welch Edlund/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/03a58610bc55d5a422040cf3f388b917

[Sherman A1]

1. Good

Hopefully it goes straight to the smelter.

[Native]

2. I wish they had been able to irreparably damage it.

[ck4829]

3. K&R

[paleotn]

4. It's about time.

Pull them all down and grind them to dust.

[LiberalArkie]

5. Was he strangled with a rope?

[Crowman2009]

6. I would look the other way if the scrap metal theives steal this statue.

[KS Toronado]

7. Could redo the face and paint a Union uniform on it.

[cannabis_flower]

8. Karma

It looks like he was lynched!

[generalbetrayus]

9. What other nation on Earth has statues dedicated to traitors?

[Judi Lynn]

10. Thanks for making that point. 👍👍👍

[Buzz cook]

11. Looks like a bad choice of clothing.

Too bad the people who erected the statue put him in uniform. The statue was put up for his post war work as a railroad executive. Railroad employees paid in part for making and erecting the statue.

Still not a great loss for anyone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_Carter_Wickham