Baltimore removed at least two Confederate statues early Wednesday after a white nationalist rally to protect monuments turned deadly over the weekend in Virginia.
The Baltimore City Council voted unanimously Monday to remove four Confederate monuments immediately, CNN affiliate WBAL reported. The council recommended the Maryland Historical Trust give permission for the removals.
By early Wednesday, at least two monuments had come down. Video posted on social media showed cranes slowly lowering them from their perches.
The removal comes as cities and states are considering taking down Confederate monuments following the clashes at Saturday’s rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one woman dead.
Statues in Lexington, Kentucky, are expected to be removed, while in Durham, North Carolina, a woman was arrested in the toppling of a Confederate statue during a protest Monday.
In New Orleans, the final Confederate statue in the city came down in May.
The memorials removed in Baltimore were the Roger B. Taney Monument and the Robert E. Lee and Thomas. J. Jackson Monument, according to WBAL.
Mayor Catherine Pugh told the station that some of the monuments will be sent to Confederate cemeteries.
The Southern Poverty Law Center last year cataloged 718 Confederate monuments and statues. It said about 300 of them are in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.
Meanwhile, a candidate seeking to become the nation’s first female African-American governor is calling for the removal of a giant granite carving in Georgia depicting three Confederate war leaders.
News outlets report Democratic front-runner for governor Stacey Abrams posted several tweets Tuesday saying the carving at the tourist attraction Stone Mountain Park and other Confederate statues and monuments around the state should be removed. One tweet read, “We must never celebrate those who defend slavery and tried to destroy the union.”
Removing the faces of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson would require a change in state law. The Georgia code says the carving shall be “protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.”
The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.
