CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – The mayor of Charlottesville is calling on Governor McAuliffe to convene an emergency meeting of state lawmakers to allow the city to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Mayor Mike Signer’s statement comes nearly a week after white supremacists descended on the city for a rally and clashed with counter protesters. One woman was killed on Saturday when a car plowed into a crowd of counter protesters. News media outlets report that Signer says the attack turned the monuments from “equestrian statues into lightning rods.” He says the city must respond “by denying the Nazis and the KKK and the so-called alt-right the twisted totem they seek.” Signer also wants lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow communities to bar people from carrying open or concealed weapons in public events “reasonably deemed to pose a potential security threat.”
