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The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 11:24 AM
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Confederate General Statues Covered in Black Fabric By Charlottesville, VA Officials
Following a deadly vehicle ramming at a demonstration against white nationalists earlier this month, the city of Charlottesville is set to cover controversial statues of Confederate generals in black fabric, city officials said.

The city council voted unanimously early Tuesday to shroud the statues of Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in fabric to represent mourning of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman killed when a car rammed into a group of people protesting a white nationalist rally in the Virginia city, the Daily Progress reported.

The vote comes only hours after tensions boiled over at the first city council meeting since rallies on Aug. 11 and 12 that were organized by white nationalist elements. Heyer was killed during a demonstration against the rally on the second day.

Monday night’s meeting began with thick tension that quickly erupted when the “Unite the Right” rally was mentioned. Angry residents called into question the city’s and police department’s responses to the deadly rally.

Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer, who seemed to take the brunt of the assembled crowd's ire, was interrupted several times in just the first few minutes of the meeting by residents shouting, with some calling for his resignation.