Charlottesville judge orders shrouds removed from Confederate statues

A judge in Charlottesville ruled Tuesday that local officials must take down the black shrouds covering two Confederate monuments while a lawsuit continues over the city’s plan to permanently remove the controversial statues.

The towering bronze sculptures of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, each in a public park, were draped in black by the city after an Aug. 12 rally by hundreds of white supremacists erupted in violence. The demonstration drew throngs of counterprotesters, and one of them, Heather Heyer, 32, was killed in the mayhem.

In a victory for monument supporters, Judge Richard E. Moore of Charlottesville Circuit Court rejected the city’s argument that the statues should remain shrouded as a symbol of mourning until the first anniversary of Heyer’s death.