Baltimore Removed Its Confederate Monuments Overnight
At least two statues were seen being removed on Mayor Catherine Pugh’s orders.
A number of Confederate statues in Baltimore were taken down in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The move came one day after the city council voted to remove four statues across the Maryland city.
"Mayor Catherine Pugh announced earlier this week that the Confederate Monuments would be removed," a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "She decided it was time and ordered it be done overnight."
The Robert E. Lee and Thomas. J. “Stonewall” Jackson Monument in Baltimore's Wyman Dell Park were the first two monuments to fall. Pictures on social media captured both the removal of the statue and Black Lives Matter members celebrating on top of the empty bases shortly after.
The removal of the statues comes as states across the U.S. consider removing monuments to the Confederacy following the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12. On Tuesday a protestor was arrested after tearing down a confederate monument in Durham, North Carolina.
See below for more footage from Baltimore.