“I thought it was going to be much longer, much more arduous.”

Protesters have decried the statue and other Confederate monuments as racist symbols.

“It’s been there 114 years and you’re going to tell me in one year all of a sudden it’s a problem? No, it’s not.”īut Chris Lutz, who blew on a vuvuzela horn as the statue came down, said he was pleased the city had made good on weeks of planning to relocate the statue. “I don’t see where it’s a nuisance or a bother to anybody,” said Mr. He said the removal was a waste of taxpayer money and an overall “travesty.” Wearing a cap and jacket with Confederate emblems, Howard Snow watched the workers’ progress throughout the morning, occasionally snapping pictures with his cellphone from a sidewalk. He described the cemetery as “a very dignified and appropriate location for the statue.” “We realize that there are very strong feelings on both sides of this issue, so what we’ve tried to do is devise a solution that recognizes both sides,” Mayor Joines said in an interview. He said he didn’t have an estimate for the cost of the city-funded removal. Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said the statue temporarily will be put in storage before it is eventually moved to historic Salem Cemetery. The column and base were then dismantled and removed piece by piece, with workers finishing up in the afternoon. The city of Winston-Salem, N.C., removed a Confederate statue Tuesday from the grounds of an old courthouse, drawing applause from onlookers for the rare move in a state where such monuments are largely protected by law.Ĭonstruction crews in Winston-Salem spent more than an hour Tuesday morning attaching a harness and a cage-like metal frame to the statue of an anonymous soldier, then hoisted it from atop its pedestal with a large crane.Ī small group of people watching clapped and cheered as the statue was taken down and placed on a flatbed truck.

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