Baltimore Takes Down Confederate Statues in Middle of Night

Journalists in Maryland city post images of monuments being removed after death of civil rights activist at Charlottesville protest

By Jamie Grierson | 16 August 2017

THE GUARDIAN — Confederate-era monuments have been taken down in the middle of the night in Baltimore.

Journalists in the city in Maryland, US, tweeted that the statues were being removed days after a city council vote on the issue.

The memorials in the city include the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Mount Royal Avenue, the Confederate Women’s Monument on West University Parkway, the Roger B Taney Monument on Mount Vernon Place, and the Robert E Lee and Thomas J “Stonewall” Jackson Monument in the Wyman Park Dell.

Confederate-era monuments fell back into the spotlight at the weekend when a civil rights activist died during violence at a far-right protest in Charlottesville, Virginia against plans to removal of a statue of Robert E Lee, who commanded the Confederate army of northern Virginia.

Journalist Baynard Woods posted video of the Taney and Women’s monuments being driven away. […]

Baltimore City Council Just Adopted a Resolution to Destroy All Confederate Monuments

By Walter Einenkel | 14 August 2017

DAILY KOS — While Mayor Catherine Pugh is trying to figure out how to remove all of the Confederate monuments around Baltimore, Councilman Brandon Scott and his fellow councilmembers want these monuments to be destroyed. Councilman Scott introduced a measure on this a short while ago. Monday, Baltimore’s City Council decided to make a very clear statement.

The city council room burst into applause after the resolution was adopted. WBAL TVreported on some of the monuments in question.

The monuments include a Confederate women’s monument in Bishop Square Park, a monument for soldiers and sailors on Mount Royal Avenue, the Lee Jackson Monument in the Wyman Park Dell and a statue of Roger Taney that sits just north of the Washington Monument.

[…]

But the process includes legal and procedural requirements, and a big price tag. It could cost between $1 million and $2 million to remove the monuments.

“We’re continuing to move forward because we believe that the monuments should be removed,” Pugh said.

The monuments are already being removed, and Mayor Catherine Pugh has made that clear. However she is working through a set of legal and procedural steps, while Councilman Scott wants to have them obliterated. […]