Former seat of Confederacy takes down last monument

The city of Richmond, Virginia, former seat of the pro-slaveowning Confederacy, has removed its last statue honouring rebels from the American Civil War.

The statue of General AP Hill was taken down, but crews will be back on Tuesday to remove his remains, which are interred in the monument's base.

Richmond began removing the statues in 2020 amid racial justice protests.

Some Confederate tributes remain in the city, but on state land.

Most of the monuments were erected during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, which began in 1877 and lasted until the civil rights movement began in the mid-1950s.

Since the police murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, the US movement to purge all remaining symbols of the Confederacy has gathered momentum.

Richmond has already removed statues honouring rebel military commander Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

"We now continue the work of being a more inclusive and welcoming place where ALL belong," Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney tweeted on Monday.

But John Hill, a descendant of AP Hill, who drove overnight from Ohio to see the 130-year-old statue removed, said it was "a tough day".

"His remains are underneath that monument. I just want to make sure they're removed respectfully," Mr Hill told a local TV station.

A city official told the New York Times that the statue would be brought to the city's black history museum.