US Baltimore City Removes All Confederate Statues After Charlottesville Clashes

According to the city's mayor, Baltimore took down all four of its Confederate-era statues just days after violence erupted at a far-right rally in Charlottesville.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Baltimore, a major city in the US state of Maryland, took down all four of its Confederate-era statues just days after violence erupted at a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the city's mayor, Catherine Pugh, said Wednesday.

"It’s done. They needed to come down. My concern is for the safety and security of our people. We moved as quickly as we could," Pugh said as quoted by the Baltimore Sun newspaper.

The move comes after the Baltimore City Council adopted a resolution on Monday, citing the events in Charlottesville and calling for an immediate destruction of statues. The city had four Confederate statues: the Confederate Women's Monument in Bishop Square Park, the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Mount Royal Avenue, a statue of Roger Taney and the Lee and Jackson Monument in the city's Wyman Park.

On Saturday, white nationalists held a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville to protest against the authorities' plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. The rally was met with counter-protests that led to violent clashes and a car ramming attack. The attack left one person killed and at least 19 others injured. In addition, two police officers died when their helicopter crashed en route to the scene of the violence.

Earlier US President Donald Trump condemned the violence at the Charlottesville rally, stressing that the events were a "display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides."