The Charlottesville city council voted unanimously Tuesday to cover Confederate statues in black cloth to symbolize the city’s mourning of riot victim Heather Heyer.
All five members of the council now support removing the Robert E. Lee statue from Emancipation Park, previously known as Lee Park, according to The Daily Progress.
Mayor Mike Signer asked Virginia’s General Assembly to amend its law regarding the removal of statues after the “Unite the Right” rally. A court injunction currently prevents Charlottesville from removing its Robert E. Lee statue.
“It is time for the Jackson and Lee statues to be relocated to a battlefield park or a museum where they will neither be reviled or revered,” council member Kathy Galvin said during a Monday news conference.
“We’ve been told that if we take them down tonight, we’re going to be personally sued,” fellow council member Wes Bellamy said at the Monday meeting. “We will personally be held liable and charged with a class-six felony.” (RELATED: Black Virginia Politician Comes Under Fire For Years-Old, Wildly Racist Tweets)
“You can’t just show up to city council meetings,” council member Kristin Szakos told protesters. “You have to go to the state legislature. Virginia has laws that restrict what we can do.”
WATCH:
Not even 30 minutes into the meeting, the city council, city manager, city attorney, and city clerk left the dias when two women stood on top of it with a banner saying “blood on your hands” and protesters swarmed the vicinity with cries of “shame, shame, shame” and “whose streets? our streets!”
Police arrested three individuals for disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice. The council continued the meeting after the arrests, but changed the format into a town-hall session. (RELATED: ‘Blood On Your Hands’: Charlottesville Mayor Flees As Protesters Storm Town Hall [VIDEO])
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the city council for comment, but received none in time for publication.
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