Charlottesville to take down Robert E. Lee statue on Saturday

The city of Charlottesville, Va., on Friday said it plans to remove two bronze statues of Confederate generals on Saturday, including one of Robert E. Lee that was the site of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.

A second statue — of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson — will also be removed, according to a news release from the city.

Only the statues themselves will be taken down on Saturday, with the stone bases to be removed at a later time.

The city government said preparations for the change would start Friday, including the installation of protective fencing around the area.

The move comes more than five years after the city first received a petition to remove the statue of Lee.

Charlottesville first approved the removal of the statues shortly after the 2017 white nationalist rally, where one counterprotester was hit by a car and killed. A number of city groups then filed a lawsuit against the city to preserve the monuments.

The city council voted again to remove the statues last month, after the state Supreme Court in April ruled against an injunction that prohibited localities from taking such pieces down.

Charlottesville says it has been soliciting “expressions of interest from any museum, historical society, government or military battlefield interested in acquiring the statues, or either of them, for relocation and placement.”

Ten responses have been received so far: four from organizations within Virginia and six from out of state.

Late last month, the House voted to remove Confederate artwork and statuary from the Capitol. The lower chamber passed similar legislation last year, but it stalled in the then-GOP-controlled Senate.

Updated at 2:25 p.m.