This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Efforts to remove the statue of Robert E Lee which was at the centre of deadly far-right violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 have been blocked in court.

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The Daily Progress reported that a three-day civil trial that ended on Friday included a ruling preventing the removal of statues of Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, both Confederate generals in the American civil war of 1861-65.

In August 2017, the planned removal by the city of the Lee statue prompted a white nationalist rally and counter-protests in which a counter-protester, Heather Heyer, was killed.

The statues were covered after the death of Heyer. Judge Richard Moore ordered the covers removed last year.

Charlottesville residents sued the city government over the attempt to remove the statues, citing a state law that protects war memorials, months before the “Unite the Right” rally of August 2017.

The city said that law violated the US constitution because the statues send a racist message.

Judge Moore ruled on Wednesday that the law’s intent was historic preservation, not discrimination.

“I don’t think I can infer that a historical preservation statute was intended to be racist,” he said. “Certainly, [racism] was on their minds, but we should not judge the current law by that intent.”

The judge issued a permanent injunction preventing the removal.

He also said he would award the plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees but would weigh arguments before determining the amount.