UPDATE 1 PM 8/20/2017: The Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department has boarded up a United Daughters of the Confederacy after it was vandalized.

Officials say they plan to remove the monument to prevent further vandalism.

ORIGINAL STORY 8/19/2017:

A monument to the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Kansas City, Missouri was vandalized sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning.

The monument is located on 55th and Ward Parkway. Someone spray painted what appears to be a sickle and star on the monument. Crews were out cleaning the statue on Saturday morning.

On Friday, 41 Action News reported that someone sent a letter to Kansas City Parks and Recreation requesting the statue be removed.

The memorial was erected in 1934 to honor the Confederate women left behind during the Civil War. It was initially located at the entrance to the Country Club Plaza but was moved in 1958.

Officials said removal would need to involve partnerships with city hall and the people who funded the memorial in the first place. Plus, they'd need public input to remove the monument.

This call for removal comes in the wake of violent clashes in Charlottesville over a Confederate statue. The city of Baltimore removed four monuments overnight.