ABCNews.com(DURHAM, N.C.) — Activists and protesters who attended a rally Monday night to coax officials to remove a Confederate statue that’s been moored in front of Durham, North Carolina’s old courthouse since 1924 decided to do it themselves.
The toppled statue depicts a Confederate soldier wielding a muzzle rifle and lugging a canteen and bedroll, and is dedicated “in memory of the boys who wore gray.”
As Monday evening’s demonstration went on, protesters surrounded the base of the erected soldier. Video circulating online showcased the swelling protesters, many in chorus shouting: “We, we are the revolution!” followed by “You can’t stop the revolution.”
Some demonstrators held up handwritten, charged screeds on cardboard that read “Stop Calling the Cops” and “Fight your Local Nazis,” and one bluntly: “F— yo statue” as they closed in on the the cast metallic Confederate monument.
Some protesters rested a ladder and looped a rope around the statue before yanking the soldier from its concrete perch.
While dragged it to the ground, the angry demonstrators began stomping on the statue repeatedly, as seen on video footage captured by a reporter with ABC station WTVD.
The Durham Police Department released a statement late Monday night regarding the incident.
“The Durham Police Department (DPD) is aware that a Confederate monument was toppled at the old Durham County courthouse. Because this incident occurred on county property, where county law enforcement officials were staffed, no arrests were made by DPD officers,” the statement reads.
Gov. Roy Cooper quickly came out against the statue takedown on Monday night, tweeting: “The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments #durham – RC”
The desecration of the Confederate soldier comes two days after a gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia turned into a melee that culminated in 20-year-old James Alex Fields allegedly plowing his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring at least 19.
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