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Crane work on the controversial statue of Southern General Robert E. Lee
Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / REUTERS
The removal took place in July in front of a running camera, now it has been declared legal: The Supreme Court of the US state Virginia has ruled that the huge statue of the controversial southern general Robert E. Lee could be torn down.
Many see it as a symbol of racial injustice.
Two residents who filed lawsuits to prevent the state from permanently dismantling the sculpture failed before the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Your attorneys have not yet commented on whether to appeal the verdict.
Plans to remove the Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, sparked protests by neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists in the city in August 2017.
During racist riots, a female counter-demonstrator was hit by a car and killed.
The then US President Donald Trump then caused outrage by saying that there had been "very good people" on both sides.
Robert E. Lee led the Confederates in the Southern Civil War against the Northern States.
The southern states, which were largely agricultural at the time, fought vehemently against the abolition of slavery under Lee's leadership.
Lee is glorified as a hero by the far-right scene in the USA.
The city council of Charlottesville had already decided in February 2016 to remove the Lee statue.
Years of legal tug-of-war followed.
The city renamed the former Lee Park, in which the statue stood, to Market Street Park.
as / AP