Baltimore removed at least two Confederate statues early Wednesday after a white nationalist rally to protect monuments turned deadly in Virginia over the weekend.
The Baltimore City Council voted unanimously Monday to immediately remove four Confederate monuments, CNN affiliate WBAL reported. The council recommended the Maryland Historical Trust give permission for the removal before it can go forward.
By early Wednesday, at least two monuments had come down. Video posted on social media showed cranes slowly lowering them from their perches.
The removal comes as cities and states are considering taking down Confederate monuments following the clashes at the rally in Charlottesville, which left one woman dead.
Statues in Lexington, Kentucky, are expected to be removed while in Durham, North Carolina, a woman was arrested in the toppling of a Confederate statue during a protest this week.
In New Orleans, the final Confederate statue came down in May.
The memorials removed in Baltimore were the Roger B. Taney Monument, and the Robert E. Lee and Thomas. J. Jackson Monument, according to the affiliate. Mayor Catherine Pugh told the affiliate that some of the monuments will be sent to Confederate cemeteries.
The Southern Poverty Law Center last year cataloged 718 Confederate monuments and statues. It said about 300 of them are in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.
