Confederate Monument Defaced in Downtown Huntsville

The Confederate monument outside the Madison County Courthouse was defaced overnight with what appeared to be blood-colored paint.

Brent Patterson, a spokesman for the Madison County sheriff’s office, said deputies were investigating and looking for evidence at the scene. Patterson said he couldn’t speculate about what the substance on the statue is.

It’s the first time the statue has been defaced during local protests calling for the monument to be removed, Patterson told AL.com by phone.

Local citizens have been protesting and calling for the statue to be removed since late May when demonstrations were sparked around the country by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Both the Madison County Commission, which has jurisdiction over the statue, and the Huntsville City Council have passed resolutions calling for the statue to be moved to the city-owned Maple Hill Cemetery. But the monument remains outside the main entrance to the courthouse in downtown Huntsville.

Alabama’s Memorial Preservation Act forbids local governments from moving some statues and other monuments. The county commission asked for a waiver to allow removal of the statue, but the Committee on Alabama Monument Protection rejected that request, saying the law doesn’t allow for removal of statues that are more than 40 years old.