A rally planned by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, resulted in the loss of three lives and led to local residents holding vigils on Sunday.

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and more than a dozen others were injured when a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters on Saturday. Two law enforcement officers were killed when their helicopter crashed near Saturday’s riots.

Events were held across the Triangle in response on Sunday, including vigils in Carrboro, at the historic courthouse in Hillsborough and in front of Silent Sam on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill.

Silent Sam has been a focus of protests in recent years. The statute is a memorial to UNC students who died fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Silent Sam was covered during protests following violence at a white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo via Will Arrington.

Silent Sam has been spray-painted and blindfolded in recent years as tensions have risen on campus.

While Silent Same still stands, those protests culminated with the changing of Saunders Hall to Carolina Hall. Saunders Hall was named for William Saunders, who was a colonel in the Confederate Army. Protests led by students resulted in the campus Board of Trustees voting to change the name to Carolina Hall in 2015, which did not go far enough for some of those protesting at the time.

There was also a 16-year moratorium on changing names of buildings on campus as the name change took effect, which also drew criticism.

Meanwhile, calls to remove Silent Sam and other Confederate memorials has been blocked at the local level as the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill recently that says those memorials can only be removed with the legislature signing off.

UNC Chancellor Carol Folt tweeted on Sunday that “violence, racism & hate do not belong on our campuses.”

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen have called a special meeting for Wednesday in order to formally respond to the events in Charlottesville over the weekend.

One speaker at Sunday’s event in Hillsborough was Latarndra Strong, who has been leading the Hate Free Schools Coalition in its attempt to ban the Confederate flag from the grounds of Orange County Schools.

The Orange County Schools Board of Education is set to vote on a revised dress code policy on Monday night that bans clothing or symbols that are intimidating based on “race, color, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, or religious affiliation.”

Monday night’s school board meeting is scheduled for seven o’clock at AL Stanback Middle School.

Photo via Will Arrington