Armed protesters storm McDonough Square to preserve Confederate monument
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McDonough, GA (WGCL) — There’s a large debate in Henry County on whether officials should remove a Confederate monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers from the center of McDonough Square.
“My thoughts on the statue behind me, it needs to be removed,” Jason Elkady said.
“I don’t think it’s the right move to bring it down,” A McDonough resident told CBS46 News.
“They should definitely take it down,” Brittany Baker said.
“It’s really just a part of this community is part of our history,” A McDonough resident said.
On July 7th the Henry County Board of Commissioners voted to remove the statue from the square. The original removal date was scheduled for Monday night.
“It’s not really a racist thing to us it’s just a historical thing,” The McDonough resident explained.
“That’s their history, that’s not our history,” Baker told CBS46 News.
However, The county explained the removal was delayed due to a contracting issue. That didn’t stop nearly 200 protesters, some of whom were armed, from showing up last night to defend the monument that’s stood in the park since 1911.
“That is very frightening,” Elkady said.
“I’m not afraid I mean I think they probably only did it for their own protection,” the McDonough resident explained.
Despite the armed protest, the county says the monument at the heart of the debate, will be removed.
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