Virginia to begin removal of massive Confederate monument

Activists have long said the hulking statue of Civil War General Robert E Lee in Richmond glorifies the US South’s slave-owning past.

In a move that will cap decades of activism, crews are set to remove one of the United States’ largest remaining Confederate statues – a towering statue of Robert E Lee in Richmond, Virginia. The 6.4-metre (21-foot) tall bronze statue Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army during the US Civil War, riding a horse will be hoisted off its 12-metre (40-foot) pedestal on Wednesday, 131 years after it was erected in the former capital of the Confederacy as a tribute to the Civil War leader. Activists have called for the statue’s removal for years, saying it glorified the US South’s slave-holding past. However, officials had long resisted its takedown, as have some residents of Virginia who argued moving the monument would be akin to erasing history.