Protesters Clash Over Fate of Confederate Monuments in New Orleans

Multiple people were arrested on Sunday as hundreds of protesters clashed over the fate of Confederate monuments in New Orleans, police said.

Three protesters were arrested and charged with disturbing the peace on Sunday afternoon near Lee Circle in New Orleans after a fight broke out at a Confederate monuments demonstration, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

Robert E. Lee Monument in New Orleans, Louisiana

A second scuffle later in the day was immediately broken up by police, with no arrests made, authorities said.

More than 700 people attended demonstrations on Sunday on both sides of the city’s plans to remove three remaining Confederate monuments.

The city has not released a timeline for the removal plans, citing safety concerns. However, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has said statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis could come down “anytime, sooner rather than later.”

The city began the process of taking down Confederate statutes late last month, starting with the removal of the monument to the Battle at Liberty Place.

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One of the anti-monument groups, Take ‘Em Down NOLA, said it was working to “remove all symbols to white supremacy from the landscape of New Orleans with as a necessary part of the struggle toward racial and economic justice,” according to a statement posted on its Facebook page on Monday.

“Just as we outnumbered those who came to oppose the removal of these racists symbols, we always outnumbered them, and in reality we always outnumber them,” the statement said.

Counter-protesters, many of whom carried Confederate flags, also attended the demonstrations.

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