Chanting “No K.K.K., no fascist U.S.A.,” the protesters slung a rope around the Confederate soldier’s neck and pulled.

The crowd stepped back, out of the way, and the soldier came crashing to the ground in a heap of crumpled metal.

From Charlottesville, Va., to New Orleans, officials have removed or considered removing Confederate monuments, to sometimes-violent backlash. But in Durham, N.C., on Monday night, opponents of the relics took matters into their own hands.

Shortly after 7 p.m., the protesters — part of a group of more than 100 that included anti-fascists and members of organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, the Workers World Party and the Industrial Workers of the World, according to The News & Observer of Raleigh — toppled a statue of a Confederate soldier that had stood in front of the old Durham County Courthouse for nearly a century above the inscription, “In memory of the boys who wore the gray.”

The figure fell headfirst, still attached to a piece of its pedestal, and the crowd — men and women, black and white, mostly young — erupted in whoops and cheers. Some protesters ran over and began kicking the statue. Others took photos beside it.

The Durham Police Department said in a statement that it had made no arrests because the episode had occurred on county property, which is under the jurisdiction of the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. Members of the sheriff’s office filmed the protest as the statue came down, The News & Observer reported, but the office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday night, and it was not clear whether its officers had made any arrests.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter, “The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable, but there is a better way to remove these monuments.”

The do-it-yourself removal prompted strong reactions on social media, with many expressions of support but also at least one person who likened it to the Islamic State’s destruction of historical artifacts.