Demonstrators on Saturday pulled down a statue of Williams Carter Wickham, a Confederate general during the Civil War, in Richmond, Virginia, AP reports.
Why it matters: Confederate monuments have been a flashpoint in the protests against police brutality and racism that have swept across the country over the past two weeks.
- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week that the state will remove the famous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond's historic Monument Avenue.
The big picture: The toppling of the Wickham statue followed a day of largely peaceful protests in the Virginia capital.
- A Richmond police spokesperson told AP that she did not know if there were any arrests or damage done to the statue.
- Some of Wickham’s descendants urged the city to remove the statue in 2017, according to AP.
Go deeper: U.S. Marines ban display of Confederate flag
