UPDATE: Winston-Salem Will Remove Controversial Confederate Statue, Denies Extension

Updated 11:30 a.m.

Judge Stanley Allen denied the United Daughters of the Confederacy's plea Thursday afternoon at an unscheduled meeting. The UDC was requesting an injunction to prevent the city from moving the Confederate monument.

The statue is now scheduled to come down in the coming weeks.

City attorney Angela Carmon says the city is aware of an event planned for today by Get Hate Out of Winston-Salem. She says, "The city is working to remove the statue as quickly as possible." 

The organization is holding the press conference, according to a Facebook post, “to hold the city accountable to taking down the statue as a stepping stone for further action to dismantle white supremacy.”

Original story posted January 30, 2019:

The City of Winston-Salem says it will remove a controversial statue downtown after a January 31st deadline passes. The United Daughters of the Confederacy had asked for a 60-day delay on filing legal action to remove the monument.

In a letter, Winston-Salem city attorney Angela Carmon says the UDC's request was an effort to cause unnecessary delay in action by the city.  She adds that the statue is a public safety issue, and says the city can remove the monument without filing a lawsuit. The city eventually plans to move it it to Salem Cemetery, where several Confederate soldiers are buried.

Mayor Allen Joines says the city has offered to help pay for the relocation.

The monument was vandalized after the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., and again in 2018. Earlier this month, advocates on both sides of the removal issue organized events in front of it.

The statue sits on the former county courthouse property, which is now privately owned and houses apartments. The property owner has also asked UDC to remove it.

A spokesperson for the group didn't respond to a request for comment in time for this story.

The 30-foot tall Confederate soldier monument has been at the corner of Fourth and Liberty Streets since 1905.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news