Alexandria, Virginia takes down 131-year-old Confederate monument amid protest

The city of Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday morning removed a 131-year-old Confederate statue from its pedestal, ahead of potential protests that could damage landmarks. 

City workers were seen taking down the statue, titled "Appomattox." City Mayor Justin Wilson tweeted photographs of the process.

"Alexandria, like all great cities, is constantly changing and evolving," he said. 

The statue, which was designed to face south, was erected in 1889. A city spokesman told CNN that the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the owners of the monument, "notified the city yesterday that they would remove the statue this morning."

Earlier this week, the World War II Monument and the Lincoln Memorial were defaced in Washington, D.C. 

Cities across the south have been grappling in recent years with the numerous Confederate statues that dot their streets. Many of them were built years after the Civil War in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as white supremacist violence raged throughout the south and the nation grappled with significant civil rights questions regarding black Americans.