Charlottesville City Council votes to remove Stonewall Jackson statue

Officials in Charlottesville, Va., unanimously voted Tuesday night to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson in the wake of a deadly white supremacist rally in the town.

The City Council’s vote will also speed the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

But the monuments cannot immediately be removed because of pending lawsuits over the statues, according to NBC News.  

The City Council resolution approved the removal of both Confederate statues “pending court decisions and/or changes in the Virginia Code,” according to NBC. 

{mosads}The council in February approved a measure to remove the Lee statue, but a lawsuit filed against the city to prevent the removal stopped it from being taken down immediately.

Both statues were covered in a black tarp following the Charlottesville rally, as officials could not remove them without the approval of the Virginia state legislature.

Protestors last month took over a council meeting to air their grievances over the August rally, which ended in the death of one woman and injuries to more than a dozen others.

The protesters at the meeting demanded the Confederate statues be taken down, and called for the resignation of at least one council member for not stepping in soon enough to stop the violent clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters.