Robert E Lee statue that sparked Charlottesville riot is melted down: ‘Like his face was crying’

Brass from the statue of the Confederate general will be used for a public art installation in Virginia city

At a foundry last weekend, with fire blazing and anti-racist activists watching, the statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee that sparked the deadly 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist riot was cut into pieces and melted down to liquid brass.

It felt like an execution," said Jalane Schmidt, co-founder of Charlottesville Black Lives Matter and a professor at the University of Virginia.