Charlottesville Confederate statues must be uncovered, a judge has ruled in the latest development in the controversy surrounding monuments to generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, CNN reported.
The two Confederate monuments, both located in public parks, were draped with black shrouds in August after a white supremacist rally turned violent when the demonstration was met with counter protesters, ultimately leading to the death of Heather Heyer.
City officials said the statues were covered for a period of mourning, but Richard E. Moore of Charlottesville Circuit Court has now allocated 15 days for the tarps to be taken down.
"It is not a matter of the 'mourning' having gone on too long," he said, according to The New York Times.
Moore's argument is that visitors and historians have not been able to view the Confederate monuments for months, and that "their lost opportunity cannot be undone."
In a statement, the city said it was "disappointed by the ruling but will respect the court's decision" but added that it was "looking forward to the process of redesigning our downtown parks to promote a more complete history of our community."
Last year Charlottesville voted to get rid of the Lee statue in a move to join other cities in removing memorials to the Confederacy however, the decision resulted in backlash, The Washington Post reported.
In response to the incident, the City Council voted for the Jackson statue to also be torn down, but Moore issued an injunction preventing this amid a pending lawsuit by a group of Confederate heritage enthusiasts seeking to preserve the monuments.
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