NEW ORLEANS - Prominent Confederate monuments long taken for granted on the streets of this Deep South city may be coming down.

This week and next, the New Orleans City Council is debating the removal four monuments linked to Confederate history. A vote is set for next week and a majority of the council appears to favors their removal despite stiff opposition.

If the monuments come down, this will become yet another example of a slowly eroding allegiance to Confederate symbols in the South.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for taking down the monuments following the June mass shooting at the African-American Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, by a white supremacist that left nine parishioners dead.

The monuments include ones dedicated to Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.