Seven arrested at Confederate statue protest in North Carolina

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(Reuters) – Police in North Carolina arrested seven people on Saturday during scuffles at a university campus where demonstrators earlier this week had toppled a statue of a Confederate soldier, a campus official said.

Most of those taken into custody face assault charges, Carly Miller, a spokeswoman for the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, said in an email.

Saturday’s protest followed a larger one on Monday when about 300 demonstrators surrounded the Silent Sam memorial, erected in 1913 to honor soldiers of the pro-slavery Confederacy killed during the U.S. Civil War, and used ropes to pull it down.

This was the latest incident in a campaign against Civil War symbols by opponents who say they glorify the South’s legacy of slavery and racism. Supporters view the memorials as emblems of American history.

Video from Saturday that was shared on social media showed competing rallies, with some on one side waving signs with slogans such as “Destroy White Supremacy,” and others holding Confederate flags. At one point, a man in a wide-brimmed hat punched another man in the face and was led away by police.

Three people suspected of pulling down the Silent Sam statue face misdemeanor charges of riot and defacing a public monument, a university police spokesman said on Friday.

In a statement on Thursday, UNC board member Thom Goolsby had said the university will reinstall the memorial within 90 days as required by North Carolina law.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, editing by G Crosse)