Following a protest in Pittsboro over the future of a Confederate monument on Saturday, authorities arrested 11 people after physical altercations broke out between protesters and counter-protesters.
The demonstrations came in the wake of a court denying a motion from the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy asking for a preliminary injunction to prevent the removal of a Confederate statue from outside the historic Chatham County Courthouse.
Three residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro were among those arrested, including UNC graduate student and activist Maya Little. Little was charged with simple affray, inciting a riot and felony malicious conduct by a prisoner. She is due to appear in Chatham County District Court in Pittsboro on December 2.
A Pittsboro resident, Calvin James Megginson, was arrested twice on Saturday on two counts of assault. He was initially arrested and charged with simple assault before being released on a written promise to appear in court. Police arrested Megginson again later on separate charges of assault on a female and resisting a public officer.
Megginson is one of two people previously arrested at protests over the Confederate statue in October.
Saturday’s arrests were the largest instance of law enforcement action so far in the protests surrounding the monument. The Board of County Commissioners voted to remove the statue from its current location in August and gave the UDC an opportunity to present an alternative plan for it before a November 1 deadline. The board declared the monument in public trespass after the UDC did not bring forward a plan.
The county has not announced a timeline for the statue’s removal.
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