SALISBURY, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina city of Salisbury has approved a measure that would remove an 111-year-old Confederate monument there.
The Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday that statue in Salisbury depicts a Greek goddess holding a dying Confederate soldier.
Demonstrations have sprung up across the country against such monuments following the death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis.
Salisbury’s police chief has deemed the monument to be a public safety threat. It has been the site of heated protests that have seen someone fire gun shots into the air, police in riot gear use tear gas and an officer injured.
The city that’s northeast of Charlotte approved an agreement Tuesday that would pay to move the statue to a cemetery and for a new foundation at the cemetery.
The local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy owns the monument. It has 10 days to sign the agreement with the city.
The statue is among nearly 100 monuments honoring the Confederacy across the state, according to state records. Most were dedicated between 1900 and 1925 during the era of Jim Crow, the Observer previously reported.
