Around 100 protesters in Durham, North Carolina, have toppled a Civil War memorial statue honoring Confederate soldiers. They chanted, “No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA” and “We are the revolution” before tying up and destroying the 93-year-old monument.
The gathering started out small Monday evening, WTVD reported. Demonstrators rallied in solidarity with other nationwide protests; responding to the tragically deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. Those protests arose out of the ordered removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
The statue of a generic Confederate soldier outside the courthouse in Durham had an engraving memorializing “the boys in gray.” Activists threw a nylon rope around the soldier and pulled it off its pedestal.
The otherwise peaceful protest saw several people stomping and kicking the statue, which broke into pieces once it was taken down.
Protesters also took aim at President Donald Trump, who initially condemned violence “on many sides” before specifying hate groups such as the KKK and neo-Nazis.
Once the Durham crowd grew to more than 100, they marched toward the new Durham Police headquarters, which is still being constructed, WTVD reported. They temporarily blocked traffic. Police reportedly kept a distance.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) reacted to the property damage by condemning "the racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville," while adding, "there is a better way to remove these monuments."
READ MORE: 'Tear racist statues down': Activists target Confederate monuments across US