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Confederate Monument in Alabama Partially Removed Overnight

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:14 am
by NewsReporter
VOA - World News


BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - The base of a Confederate monument in Alabama is all that remains Tuesday morning in Birmingham's Linn Park. Live video recorded overnight shows crews worked into the early morning hours dismantling the top portion of the obelisk in pieces. It comes about a day after protesters tried to remove the monument themselves during a protest over police brutality, including the death of George Floyd. The stone pieces were hauled off on a flatbed truck. It's unclear where they were taken. Crews were expected to return later Tuesday to finish removing the monument.


BIRMINGHAM, Alabama


The base of a Confederate monument in Alabama's largest city was all that remained Tuesday morning after crews worked overnight to dismantle it.


Workers began Monday night removing the top portion of the obelisk in pieces in Birmingham's Linn Park, about a day after protesters tried to remove it themselves during a protest over police brutality, including the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.





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Live video filmed by AL.com overnight showed a flatbed truck hauling off the stone pieces in the early morning hours. It's unclear where the pieces were being taken.


Crews were expected to return later Tuesday to finish removing the monument.


The monument had been the subject of a court battle between the city of Birmingham and the state before protesters tried to bring it down Sunday.


Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said the city faces a fine for violating a state law that bans the removal of Confederate and other long-standing monuments. Woodfin said the cost of a fine would be more affordable than the cost of continued unrest in the city.


ASBURY PARK, New Jersey


A police officer was injured and a journalist was among 12 people arrested as officers sought to enforce a curfew following a protest of the Minneapolis death of George Floyd.



Officers kneel with protesters during a protest against the death in Minneapolis in police custody of African-American man George Floyd, in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. June 1, 2020.

Monday's protest was peaceful and many police officers kneeled in solidarity with demonstrators who denounced police brutality. However, tensions flared around 9:30 p.m. as police moved to clear the streets of about 200 people because of the city's 8 p.m. curfew.


A city police officer was injured after demonstrators hurled rocks at officers, police said.


Asbury Park Press reporter Gustavo Martinez Contreras was streaming the protest live on Twitter when he was arrested and issued a ticket for failing to obey an order to disperse. He was released from police custody on Tuesday..


The curfew had exempted credentialed members of the media.


The protest came after 28 similar events took place in the state over the weekend. Incidents of vandalism in Trenton and Atlantic City led to more than two dozen arrests.