A statue of a Confederate general that was torn down and set on fire in 2020 during social justice protests in Washington has been reinstalled under orders from President Donald Trump.
General Albert Pike’s statue has long been a source of controversy, as have many Confederate monuments across the US which were erected decades after the Civil War.
The National Park Service announced in August its plan to return the refurbished statue, after Trump signed an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”.
Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia, called the restoration “offensive to members of the military who serve honorably”.
On Monday afternoon, videos showed the area surrounding Pike’s statue in Washington with a sign that read “Area close. Historic preservation work in progress”.
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic-preservation law and recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and restore pre-existing statues,” the National Park Service in a statement.
The statue, which was built in 1901, has been a source of controversy for many years. Members of local government have been calling for its removal for decades.
Holmes Norton, a long-time critic, has introduced legislation to remove the Pike statue permanently multiple times.
“Pike himself served dishonourably,” she said in a statement after the statue was restored. “He took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds, and was ultimately captured and imprisoned by his own troops.”
“Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in parks or other locations that imply honor,” Holmes Norton added.
Pike’s statue was the only monument to a Confederate general in the nation’s capital before it was pulled down in 2020.
Pike was a longtime leader of the Freemasons, a centuries-old secretive society, who paid for the statue.
His body is interred at the Washington headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which also contains a small museum in his honour.
Pike’s critics have accused him of being instrumental in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Masons insist that evidence doesn’t support the allegations.
The plaque that previously labelled the statue read “author, poet, scholar, soldier, jurist, orator, philanthropist and philosopher”.
Anti-racism protesters used ropes and chains to pull down the Pike statue following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer in 2020.
Then-President Trump, in his first term, condemned the toppling on Twitter, writing: “The DC police are not doing their job as they watched a statue be ripped down and burn. These people should be immediately arrested. A disgrace to our country.”
Floyd’s death ignited a nationwide reckoning with systemic racism, prompting widespread calls to remove Confederate monuments. Ultimately, more than 300 such memorials were taken down across the country.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has ordered statues and paintings of Confederate generals to be reinstalled.