A Confederate statue in Richmond was vandalized overnight with what appears to be red paint.
Police spokesman James Mercante says a patrol officer observed a ‘red paint-like’ substance on the statue of Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday on Monument Avenue in Virginia.
Mercante says police believe the vandalism happened around midnight.
He says the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will clean up the statue.
The monument of Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill was destroyed with red paint on Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia
Vandals sprayed what appeared to be red paint on the base of the stature around midnight, authorities said
The city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities is responsible for cleaning the stature
Hill was a US Army officer during the Civil War and one of Robert E Lee’s most trusted subordinates. He died during war after he was mortally wounded by a Union soldier.
Hill was a US Army officer during the Civil War and one of Robert E Lee’s most trusted subordinates
The incident follows the toppling of a Confederate monument at the University of North Carolina this week and the vandalism of a Robert E Lee statue in Richmond earlier this month.
The city has been debating what do with other Confederate monuments that stand on Monument Avenue in a different part of the city, but the Gen Hill statue hasn’t been part of that discussion.
In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper had asked last year for three controversial Confederate monuments be removed from the Capitol ground and relocated to a Civil War battlefield.
On Wednesday, a committee voted not to relocate the statues because of a 2015 law which bars the permanent removal of Confederate monuments and limits where they can be relocated to.
Cooper wants the law changed saying it was time residents understood that North Carolina could ‘document and learn from our history without idolizing painful symbols’.
The incident comes days after more than 300 protesters at the University of North Carolina knocked over a Silent Sam statue
On Wednesday, officials in North Carolina voted not to remove three controversial Confederate monuments after the governor asked for them to be relocated
People gather around the remainder of the monument following a Monday night rally where the Confederate statue known as Silent Sam was toppled from it’s pedestal
Republican senator Phill Berger praised the decision on Wednesday saying the committee followed the law and listened to members of the public who agreed the monuments ‘are part of our state’s history and should remain where they are’.
Berger also said he agrees with the idea to build a monument to African Americans in the state on the Capitol ground.
On Monday, a group of more than 300 protesters knocked down a Silent Sam statue on the campus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
About two hours into the protest, a group surrounded the statue – which has long been decried as a symbol of black oppression and racism – and pulled it down. Once it was on the ground, demonstrators kicked it and cheered.
The crowd chanted ‘Tar Heels!’ and ‘Whose Campus? Our Campus!’ Cars honked as they passed nearby on the college town’s main drag.
Earlier this month, a Robert E Lee monument in Richmond was defaced with red paint
The letters ‘BLM’, apparently in reference to Black Lives Matter, was also sprayed on the bottom
At least one protester was arrested and charged with concealing their face during a public rally and resisting arrest.
School officials condemned the protesters’ actions as ‘dangerous’ and have launched a vandalism investigation.
Many students, faculty and alumni had called the statue a racist image and asked officials to remove it, though some argued it was a tribute to fallen ancestors.
UNC leaders including Chancellor Carol Folt had previously said state law prevented the school from removing the statue.
Earlier this month, a Robert E Lee monument in Richmond was defaced with red spray paint sparking an investigation by Capitol police.
The vandals had also sprayed the letters ‘BLM’, apparently in reference to Black Lives Matter, on the base of the statue.