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Suburban Atlanta county removes Confederate monument

Contributed Photo / Political events this summer are forcing voters to choose whether first defenders, like the police, are heroes or villains.
Contributed Photo / Political events this summer are forcing voters to choose whether first defenders, like the police, are heroes or villains. Contributed Photo / Political events this summer are forcing voters to choose whether first defenders, like the police, are heroes or villains.

By Associated Press 3 min read

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) – A suburban Atlanta county has removed a Confederate monument from its historic courthouse square and placed it into storage.

The monument, installed in 1993 in the Gwinnett County seat of Lawrenceville, was removed Thursday night after commissioners approved the step on Tuesday.

The face-down granite slabs were taken away on a truck as four police cars followed, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The monument was taken to an undisclosed location, where it will be held while the courts decide whether the county was justified in removing it under a state law that prohibits removal or relocation of Confederate monuments.

The law has an exception allowing monuments to be moved for “preservation, protection and interpretation.” Commissioners, with a newly elected Democratic majority in Gwinnett, contend that two acts of vandalism last year threaten the monument’s safety.

Confederate symbols and monuments across the South were damaged or brought down last summer by demonstrators or removed by local authorities amid nationwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality.