Confederate Statues in Charlottesville Vandalized Days After Court Decision

The Confederate statues in downtown Charlottesville were vandalized late Sunday night or early Monday morning, following a judge’s decision in a long-brewing lawsuit last week that the city could not remove them.

Both the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were spray painted with the year “1619.” {snip}

The vandalism came just days after a Charlottesville judge ruled that the city must pay plaintiffs’ attorneys fees and litigation costs in the lawsuit over the monuments.

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The city’s parks and rec department cleaned the Lee statue by late morning. The graffiti remained on the Jackson statue at lunchtime on Monday and was scrubbed off later.

Charlottesville Police Department spokesperson Tyler Hawn said vandalizing the statues can be either a misdemeanor or a felony offense, depending on the extent of the damage.

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