CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the toppling of a Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (all times local):
3:30 p.m.
Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is comparing the protesters who helped topple a statue of a Confederate soldier with Nazis.
The Charlotte Observer reports that McCrory asked Tuesday if the protesters are any different from Nazis who tore down statues and burned books in the 1920s and 1930s. McCrory made the comments on his morning show on WBT radio.
On Monday, protesters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill brought down the statue known as “Silent Sam” that had stood on campus for more than 100 years. They had decried the statue as a symbol of racist heritage.
McCrory said presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington owned slaves and asked if monuments in their honor should be removed.
___
2:15 p.m.’
A protester who threw a mixture of red ink and her own blood on a Confederate statue says students, campus workers and community did what the University of North Carolina refused to do when they toppled the statue.
Maya Little is charged with vandalism for her protest in April and also faces an Honor Court hearing. She said Tuesday that UNC-Chapel Hill had more than 100 years to remove the statue known as “Silent Sam” and didn’t do it so others took it down Monday night.
She says the toppling exemplifies activists’ commitment to “smashing white supremacy” at UNC.
Little says she has a court hearing in October on the vandalism charge. She says no date has been set for her Honor Court hearing.
___
1:40 p.m.
Campus police say one person faces criminal charges for his role in toppling a Confederate statue on the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus.
Police at the Chapel Hill campus said Tuesday they charged a 27-year-old man for resisting or obstructing an officer and for wearing a hood or mask on public property.
Ian Broadhead of rural Watauga County did not have a listed phone number and The Associated Press was unable to reach him for comment Tuesday.
UNC-Chapel Hill police spokesman Randy Young said Broadhead is not a student at the school.
He was arrested Monday night, shortly before activists yanked the bronze figure of a Southern soldier off its stone pedestal. The statute was erected in a prominent spot on campus by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1913.
___
1:30 p.m.
Two freshmen attending their first day of class say they’re happy the statue known as “Silent Sam” is gone from the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus.
On Tuesday, Joy Aikens and Savannah Wood were at the pedestal that once supported the statue of a Confederate soldier on the Chapel Hill campus.
Aikens said she was present for the protests Monday night that ended with the toppling of the statue, while Wood was in her dorm room, watching videos from friends.
Wood says activists tried to have the statue removed peacefully, while Aikens said the people who risked an honor court hearing are “beyond amazing.”
The bronze figure of a Southern soldier atop a tall stone pedestal was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1913.
___
12:55 p.m.
North Carolina’s state Senate leader says the people who toppled the Confederate statute at UNC-Chapel Hill are like “violent mobs” and he says their actions won’t heal wounds of racial injustice.
Republican Senate leader Phil Berger released his statement after the “Silent Sam” memorial was pulled down during a demonstration by hundreds of people at the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus.
Berger said Tuesday “only a civil society that adheres to the rule of law can heal these wounds.” He says Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and other politicians must stop labeling violent riots as “rallies.”
University officials said their hands were tied by a 2015 law that essentially prohibited the permanent removal of “Silent Sam” and limited the relocation of similar Confederate monuments on public property.
__
11:50 a.m.
A top Republican at the North Carolina legislature is calling for those who toppled a Confederate statue on the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus to be arrested and prosecuted.
House Speaker Tim Moore made the comments Tuesday, a day after the memorial known as “Silent Sam” at UNC-Chapel Hill came down during a rally attended by hundreds of demonstrators.
Moore is a Chapel Hill graduate. He says it must be made clear that “mob rule and acts of violence” won’t be tolerated in the state.
Moore and other Republicans were leading the General Assembly in 2015 when it passed a law that essentially made it impossible to remove the Confederate statue permanently unless the legislature passed another law doing so.
___
10:55 a.m.
The top officials of the University of North Carolina system say the toppling of a Confederate statue on the Chapel Hill campus was “unacceptable, dangerous and incomprehensible.”
In a statement released Tuesday, UNC board chairman Harry Smith and system President Margaret Spellings say the university won’t tolerate the intentional destruction of public property.
They say UNC-Chapel Hill leaders and police are reviewing evidence and conducting interviews “that will inform a full criminal investigation.”
The memorial known as “Silent Sam” was toppled Monday night during a rally by hundreds of protesters who decried it as a symbol of racist heritage.
___
10:25 a.m.
A Confederate statue in the heart of North Carolina’s flagship university is no longer standing.
The memorial known as “Silent Sam” was toppled Monday night during a rally by hundreds of protesters who decried it as a symbol of racist heritage.
The bronze figure of a Southern soldier atop a tall stone pedestal was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1913. It had been under constant police surveillance after being vandalized in recent months, costing the university hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Protesters appeared to outwit officers by splitting into two groups. Most marched away from the statue while a smaller group surrounded it with banners on bamboo poles, concealing efforts to tie a rope or cable around it. Videos show the groups converged and yanked it down.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.