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New Orleans takes down 3rd Confederate-era monument
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NEW ORLEANS - Workers in New Orleans have taken down a Confederate monument to Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, the third of four such monuments to come down in the city.
Police started moving pro-monument supporters away from the statue of Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard at the entrance to City Park in New Orleans shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday in preparation for its removal, according to WWL-TV.
The removal of the statue early Wednesday comes after the city has already taken down a statue of the Confederacy's only president and a memorial to a white rebellion against a biracial Reconstruction-era government in the city.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu first proposed removing the monuments in the summer of 2015, and the City Council approved the move later that year.
"Today we take another step in defining our City not by our past but by our bright future," Landrieu said in a statement issued Tuesday around 8:30 p.m. "While we must honor our history, we will not allow the Confederacy to be put on a pedestal in the heart of New Orleans."
But the process was stuck in legal limbo for over a year as monument supporters fought to keep them up.
Supporters say removing the monuments is akin to erasing history. But those calling for their removal say they glorify a shameful part of the city and country's history.
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