Protests turn violent in North Carolina as mob topples Confederate statue

Demonstrators had on Monday gathered at the old Durham County courthouse

A peaceful demonstration organised to stand in solidarity with the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, took a turn when protesters toppled a Confederate statue in the US state of North Carolina, the media reported.

Demonstrators on Monday gathered at the old Durham County courthouse around the Confederate Soldiers Monument, reports CNN.

The monument, dedicated in 1924, depicts a soldier holding a gun on top of a concrete pillar. The pillar is engraved "In memory of the boys who wore gray".

During the protest, a person climbed a ladder and tied a rope to the top of the statue as the crowd chanted, "We are the revolution".

Protesters pulled the rope and erupted in cheers as the statue toppled onto the ground. Several people ran up to the mangled statue, kicking it and spitting on it.

"The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable, but there is a better way to remove these monuments," tweeted North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

From New York to Indiana to California, numerous demonstrations have been organised since Saturday, when Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville while counter protesting a white supremacist rally, CNN reported.

"Emergency Protest -- Stand in Solidarity with Charlottesville," reads the Durham protest event Facebook page.

At the end of the event description, it reads: "Tear down all white supremacist Confederate statues now!"

Durham City Police said no arrests were made because the incident occurred on county property.

Also on Monday in Gainesville, Florida, construction workers, approved by the county, removed a confederate statue called "Old Joe". The statue sat outside the Alachua County Administration Building for over 100 years.

The Confederate States of America, also referred to as the Confederacy, was a self-proclaimed nation of 11 secessionist slave-holding states of America, existing from 1861 to 1865.

Its regional economy was mostly dependent upon agriculture, particularly cotton, and a plantation system that employed African-American slaves.