A statue of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee that stands six stories high, and was a centerpiece of protests over racial injustice, will be removed.

The Commonwealth of Virginia announced it would remove the 12-tonne bronze statue on Monument Avenue, stashing it in a secure state-owned storage site until a decision on its future is finalised.

The statue’s scheduled takedown in the capital city comes just days after the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Governor Ralph Northam could remove it.

The statue is scheduled to be removed on Wednesday after a year-long legal battle over its future.

Northam, a Democrat, had announced plans to remove the statue in June 2020, 10 days after a white Minneapolis policeman killed George Floyd, who was Black, sparking nationwide protests.

Statues honoring leaders of the pro-slavery Confederate side in the American Civil War have become a focus of protests against racism in recent years.

Lawsuits seeking to block the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue were filed by nearby residents who said they had a property right to keep the statue in place and it should be left alone.

The court disagreed, saying the documents that controlled the statue’s location were outdated.

“Streets around the statue were closed on Tuesday evening as crews prepared a viewing area for the public to watch the statue removal. On Thursday, plaques will be taken down from the monument’s base and a time capsule believed to be at the site will be replaced with a new one,” Reuters said: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/virginia-remove-statue-confederate-hero-robert-e-lee-wednesday-2021-09-08/

Aljazeera/Reuters.