NC protesters topple Confederate statue outside courthouse

ByJonah Kaplan WTVD logo
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Protesters rip down Confederate statue
Protesters rip down Confederate statue and kick and stomp on it Monday evening.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Protesters in Durham, North Carolina rushed and toppled a Confederate statue outside the courthouse on Monday evening.

The monument of a Confederate soldier holding a rifle was erected in 1924 and inscribed on it are the words "in memory of the boys who wore the gray."

The crowd was initially small but steadily grew to include more than 100 people.

Durham protest started off small but vocal and grew as the evening went on.

As the crowd became more animated, several protesters approached the monument and threw some sort of nylon rope around it, eventually pulling the statue of the soldier to the ground.

Protesters storm and tear down the Confederate monument.
Jonah Kaplan

After the statue fell, many of the protesters kicked and stomped it.

Protesters then moved on to walk down to Roxboro Street at Main Street, where they blocked the intersection. The protesters later marched to the site of the new Durham Police headquarters, which is under construction.

Durham Police remained close by but kept their distance from the protesters.