Administration to reinstate statue of Confederate general toppled by Black Lives Matter

The statue of a Confederate general from the Civil War (1861-1865), which was damaged and toppled in 2020 during Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations, will be restored and reinstalled in Washington, the National Park Service announced Monday.

Albert Pike (1809-1891), also a jurist and writer, was the only Confederate military figure with his own monument in the American capital. A few days after the removal of Pike's statue, protesters attempted to do the same with that of the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845).

Five years ago, on the night of June 19-20, protesters tore down the monument with rope and attempted to set it on fire while shouting BLM chants.

"Site preparation to repair the statue’s damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints, and mounting elements," the National Park Service (NPS) said in a release. They anticipate placing it back in a Washington park in October.

In March, Trump signed two executive orders "making the District of Columbia safe and beautiful" and "restoring truth and sanity to American History." The Republican, who was already in power in a first term from 2017 to 2021, once called what happened to the Pike statue an embarrassment for the country.