PORT ALLEN - The West Baton Rouge Parish Council has turned down a request by the Port Allen City Council to move a Confederate statue in the city.

In a 6-3 vote Thursday evening, officials passed a resolution to keep the Confederate Governor Henry Watkins Allen statue in its current position, facing the courthouse, rather than moving it to the West Baton Rouge Museum. Currently, the structure stands in a courtyard of the West Baton Rouge Parish Library.

The decision to keep the statue in place comes a day after Port Allen City Council members unanimously backed a proposal that urged the parish to uproot the structure and have it placed in a nearby museum. 

Residents and local advocates voiced concern over the statue's location across from the courthouse, stating the structure is better suited in the museum as a historical representation of the Confederate army general who was elected governor in 1863. Some council members echoed those concerns.

BREAKING: WBR Parish Council votes to keep statue of former Louisiana Gov. and Confederate General Henry Watkins Allen at library/courthouse area

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