Virginia judge rules confederate statues are war monuments and can’t be removed
Judge said statues at center of 2017 violence are ‘symbols of white supremacy’ for some but ‘brilliant military tacticians’ for others
A Virginia judge has ruled that the Confederate statues in Charlottesville are protected by state law because they are war monuments – and will not be taken down while the case is ongoing.
The statues were at the center of shocking violence in the summer of 2017 as neo-Nazis and other white nationalists, marching in support of them staying put in a park in the college town, clashed with anti-rightwing demonstrators in an outbreak that left many injured and one young demonstrator dead.