Comment: Coming just a few weeks before Catalonia's referendum, this event will surely be used by Spanish authorities to argue for a 'No' vote. After all, if this kind of attack can happen in the heart of Catalonia, surely Catalonians are safer, and therefore better off, in the bosom of the Spanish state.

Coming just a few days after the 'car attack' in Charlottesville in the US, it is also a 'timely' reminder to the people of Western nations that the world is a very dangerous and threatening place, and all right-thinking people should place their trust and faith in the protective power of their respective states.

Update 1

The first footage of the crash scene has made it online. An eyewitness told RT:

"I saw bunch of people running and screaming," said Sissing, on holiday in Spain from the UK. "The van was speeding through under the trees in the pedestrian area. The van was going - I don't know - at 80 to 100kmh. It was really fast. It was knocking people down - maybe 10 or 15 people. Then the van stopped, and it was pretty badly damaged when I saw it. There were hundreds of people there. Then accelerated again, and kept on going. I saw at least 10 people on the ground, some receiving treatment."

RT journalist Daniel Chalyan was on the scene:

"There was panic. People were running everywhere down the wrong side of the street. No one knew what had actually happened - people said that someone had planted a bomb," Chalyan said. "Police ordered us to hide. I am in a clothing store with two owners, and six customers. The windows are shuttered, we are on lockdown and still can't get out, though the situation outside is getting calmer."

Police reportedly have one suspect in custody in connection with a terrorism charge. Spanish media are circulating a photo and name (Driss Oukabir) alleged to be of a suspect.

And now, on cue: ISIS has claimed responsibility, via its Amaq "news agency".

Update 2

A Spanish news station reports that, surprise surprise, a passport was conveniently found inside the van used in the attack. Also, the CIA reportedly warned the Catalan police of a possible van ramming attack a few months ago. The more news that comes out, the more this begins to look like state-sponsored terror.

Update 3

Driss Oukabir has handed himself in to police, claiming that his identity stolen and that he had nothing to do with the attack.

The driver of the van remains at large. Police just say 'he ran off on foot...'

Update 4

Two men are now in custody, but neither was the driver. One is Moroccan, the other from Melilla, a Spanish enclave. A second van was found north of Barcelona, in the town of Vic; it was reportedly intended to be a getaway vehicle.

At 7:30pm local time, a second attack took place at a police checkpoint on Barcelona's Avinguda Diagonal. Two officers were run over; the driver was shot dead by police. It's not yet clear if this is connected to the van attack.

Another incident - a house explosion last night at a house in Alcanar that killed 1 (a Moroccan) and injured 6 - is believed to be connected with today's attack. Firefighters found about 20 gas cylinders at the scene and documents that police say link the site to today's attack.

Update 5 (Aug. 18)

In another one of those strange coincidences, the mother of a woman who survived the Bataclan Theatre attack in France witnessed the Barcelona attack. See RT's interview with the mother here. 119 were injured in the van ramming, 15 seriously. The death toll is now up to 14. More footage of the aftermath here. And the first CCTV footage of the van itself, briefly visible through the window of a museum:


Two more men have been brought into custody, bringing the total to 4 (3 Moroccans and 1 Spaniard), but the driver is still yet to be identified, according to Catalan regional police official Josep Lluis Trapero.

"None of the four detainees arrested [following] the Cambrils and #Barcelona attacks had a history of terrorism-related offenses," Catalan police tweeted.

The detained suspects were preparing a bigger attack, according to police. "They were preparing one or several attacks in Barcelona and an explosion in Alcanar stopped this as they no longer had the material they needed to commit attacks of an even bigger scope," said Trapero said, as cited by AFP.

Police said they are investigating if the terrorists had been being planning the attacks for some time. "We work with the hypothesis that the suspects were preparing both attacks for some time in this building of Alcanar. It was a group, we do not know the specific number, but we do not rule out having other attacks in mind. They are all identified," he said.
...
At least one of the suspects was arrested in the town of Ripoll, police said earlier. "There could be more people in Ripoll connected to the group,'' regional Interior Ministry chief Joaquim Forn told TV3 television, as cited by AP. He added that "a numerous group" could be behind the attack, in an interview to Onda Cero radio.

Turns out Catalan police allegedly were warned by the CIA of a possible attack on Las Ramblas 2 months ago:

The CIA told Los Mossos, the Catalonian regional police force, that Barcelona was a top target for jihadist terrorists as recently as June this year, El Peridoco, a local paper, reported on Friday.

"Two months ago the Central Intelligence Agency passed a notice to the Catalan autonomous police," the paper said. "It even warned of the risk to Las Ramblas," the pedestrian thoroughfare hit by an attack on Thursday.

The Telegraph could not immediately verify the report.

Update 6

Another attack, this time at Cambrils near Barcelona: At least six injured after car rams pedestrians at Cambrils seafront near Barcelona, five suspected terrorists killed in police shootout

Update 7 (August 19)

In the Cambrils attack, one Spanish police officer reportedly killed 4 of the attackers while protecting his wounded partner. After ramming 4 people on the beach promenade, their car hit a police cruiser and overturned:

The terrorists got out of the vehicle and attempted to stab pedestrians with knives and an axe. They were wearing items resembling suicide vests which turned out to be fake.

Two officers were inside the police car. One of them suffered head and leg injuries in the crash and his partner was forced to confront the attackers on his own.

He shot and killed four of them.

Graphic footage of the confrontation, obtained by La Vanguardia, captured the moment one of the terrorists was being gunned down by the officer with several onlookers watching on in shock.

The perpetrator is seen taunting the officer, shouting: "Allahu akbar," and ignoring commands to surrender and lay down. After the first shots were fired at him, the suspect falls to the ground, but quickly stands up and continues running until more bullets hit him.

The name of the policeman who killed the four terrorists remains undisclosed. La Vanguardia reports that psychologists counseled him after the incident.

The fifth attacker managed to flee while injuring a woman who later died in hospital. He was shot dead by another police unit shortly afterwards.

Police identified all 5 terrorist cell members killed in Cambrils, but are still unsure if one of them was the driver of the van involved in the Barcelona ramming earlier.

Three Moroccans and one Spaniard have been detained in relation to the Catalonia vehicle ramming attacks. Police said the cell of at least 12 members were preparing a bigger bombing attack. Out of 3 remaining identified suspects, two might have been killed in the blast in Alcanar, and at least one - Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22 - is still at large.

All five of those killed are Moroccans: Omar Hychami, 21, born in Morocco; 19-year-old Moroccans Houssaine Abouyaaqoub and Said Aallaa; Mohamed Hychami, 24, born in Morocco and Moussa Oukabir, 17.

Authorities are linking the Cambrils and Barcelona attacks, calling them a 'plan B' after the bomb plot was disrupted by the seemingly accidental explosion in Alcanar.

Update 8 (August 20)

A missing Australian boy has been confirmed dead in the attack. Authorities say the Sagrada Familia was the prime target of the botched bomb plot. No word on how exactly the police have confirmed that, however (perhaps from those in custody?). Here's the latest on the house explosion:

Examining the ruins of the Alcanar explosion site, investigators found an arsenal of explosive material; including dozens of tanks of butane gas and traces of the triacetate triperoxide (TATP) explosive, dubbed the 'Mother of Satan.'

Triacetone triperoxide has been used by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorists before - the 7/7 bombings in London and the November 2015 Paris attacks. TATP which looks like a white powder is highly unstable and difficult to detect; but it can explode with a force that's roughly 80 percent as strong as TNT. Terrorists presumably planned to detonate the gas by using TATP explosives.

Police raided the house of a local imam, Abdelbak Es Satty, believed to be connected with the group.

Officers were reportedly seeking to find DNA samples of the cleric, identified as Abdelbaki Es Satty, which might link him to the terrorist hideout in Alcanar, where an explosion destroyed a house on Wednesday.

The Alcanar house reportedly served as the base from which the terrorists were preparing their attacks. The imam went missing several days ago and was last seen Tuesday, Reuters reported citing Es Satty's landlord.

Investigators believe he might be one of the two dead persons discovered in the rubble of the house in Alcanar.

Authorities did not find the imam in the small apartment. One of the rooms, reports say, was sublet to a Moroccan. In the living room, police discovered a mattress with the sheets on the floor, a five-seater corner sofa and a TV, El Pais reports.

Es Satty has been a practicing imam in Ripoll since 2015 and taught Arabic classes to young children of the congregation. He is believed to be the religious mentor of several of the identified terrorists who lived in the same town, namely: brothers Driss and Moussa Oukabirm as well as Mohammed Hychami and Younes Abouyaaqoub, who is considered the mastermind of the Barcelona attack and currently on the run.
Satty could have also influenced Said Aallaa, another terrorist cell member, who came from the town of Ribes de Freser, 13 kilometers from Ripoll.

The Ripoll imam was allegedly imprisoned at Castellón jail between 2010 and 2012 for drug-related offenses, according to anti-terrorist sources cited by El Confidencial. Neighbors of the cleric, however, note his humble behavior and his ability not to stand out from the crowd.

See also:

• Police find over 120 gas canisters for 'one or more' attacks in Barcelona
• Police still searching for one person after Barcelona attacks, may have fled to France

Update 9 (August 21)

The suspect at large - Younes Abouyaaqoub, believed to have been the driver of the Barcelona attack - was shot and killed (though an earlier report said shot and arrested) today in Subirats, about an hour away from Barcelona. He was reportedly wearing a fake suicide belt.

Local media said police managed to find and shoot him on a road near a sewage treatment plant.

Police have also confirmed that one of those killed in the Alcanar explosion was imam Abdelbaki Es Satty:

"On Tuesday morning, he left saying he was going on vacation to Morocco," said fruit-seller Nordeen El Haji, 45, who four months ago moved into the apartment that Satty occupied in Ripoll.

The decrepit two-room flat rented for 150 euros ($175) a month has a view of the tree-covered Pyrenees and the red roofs of the quaint Catalonian town, 90 kilometres (50 miles) north of Barcelona.
...
"He spoke little, spent time with his computer in his room, and had an old mobile phone with no internet, and few books," said Satty's flatmate.
...
As local media speculated on the influence of the imam on the young attackers, his flatmate said that in the last four months, he had not hosted any youths in the apartment.

"This imam was normal and ordinary in public," said Mohamed Akhayad, a 26-year-old Moroccan electrician-mechanic, who sometimes went to the prayer hall that opened in 2016 where he preached.

"If he ate up the brains of these youths, he must have done it secretly, in a secret place," he said at the main Moroccan cafe in town.
...
Another Moroccan, who did not want to give his name, described the imam as "very solitary, and hung out more with these youths than with people of his age".

The 43-year-old man said he knew the young suspects in the attacks, as he had organised football matches with them.
...
In Sant Pere street where the imam lived, a 64-year-old local, Francesc Gimeno, said the man "had a reputation of being very Islamist".

"He wanted all the Moroccans to think like him, putting religion above all," said Gimeno, saying he also "required Moroccan women in town to cover themselves".

But Hammou Minhaj, 30, a Moroccan and secretary of Ripoll's Muslim community, said: "He doesn't say that here at the mosque. Outside, I don't know."

Satty arrived in Ripoll in 2015, said Minhaj.

- 'Knows the Koran better than us' -

But then "he went to Belgium as imam, at least that's what he said, before returning to Ripoll," added Minhaj.

"He started as an imam in our new mosque in April 2016. What's important is that he knows the Koran better than we do."

But at the end of June, the imam asked for three months' leave to go to Morocco on holiday, Minhaj said.

In Belgium, the mayor of the Vilvorde region told AFP that Satty spent time in the Brussels suburb of Machelen between January and March 2016.

Brussel's Molenbeek suburb -- on the other side of the city -- has gained notoriety as a hotbed of international jihadists after the March 2016 Brussels attacks and the November 2015 Paris assaults.

In the Moroccan town of M'rirt, relatives of the 22-year-old who police believe drove the van into crowds in Barcelona, Younes Abouyaaqoub, also accused the imam of radicalising the young man as well as his brother Houssein.

"Over the last two years, Younes and Houssein began to radicalise under the influence of this imam," their grandfather told AFP
....
A neighbour close to the Abouyaaquob family, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the imam "had recruited Moroccans of Ripoll and planned the attacks".

"He took leave from the mosque saying he had to return to Morocco to deal with inheritance problems. So another imam was found to replace him at the mosque, but a few days before the attacks, he was seen in Ripoll," added the source, who also has family in the small town.

Update 10 (Aug. 22)

Barcelona attack suspect tells court that cell planned bigger attack with explosives

Comment: Protestors have already defaced two such monuments in Durham, NC, and Atlanta, GA, in the past 3 days. RT reports on the events in Atlanta:

Several dozen activists marched into Atlanta's Piedmont Park on Sunday evening and gathered around the Peace Monument, defacing it with red spray paint. Video from the scene shows one masked activist climbing on top of the statue and wrapping a chain around it. At one point, a piece of the monument fell on one of the protesters.

The protest was organized by All Out Atlanta, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution described as a collection of "progressive and other left-leaning groups," including "antifa" and Black Lives Matter.

"Liberal society has blood on its hands," the group said in a press release cited by the newspaper. All Out Atlanta also accused the American Civil Liberties Union of being "spineless" for defending "fascists' right to assemble" in Charlottesville.

... a group of black-clad, masked "antifa" activists shouted abuse at a lone police officer trying to stop them from tearing down the Peace Monument. The Journal-Constitution reported that Black Lives Matter protesters shielded the officer, who was African-American, from "antifa" activists.

One person "who spoke briefly of reconciliation was met with boos and catcalls," the paper reported.

On Monday, the group that erected the monument in 1911 said it would raise money for repairs. John Green, a former commander of the Old Guard of the Gate City Guard, said that removing the monument from the city park was "not an option."
...
According to the official Georgia tourism site, at the monument's dedication in 1911, "over 50,000 veterans from both the North and the South, many of whom once fought each other, marched in a parade down Peachtree Street" to Piedmont Park.

Symbol of peace and reconciliation: still racist, apparently. As for Durham:

A protester climbed a ladder on the side of a Confederate monument outside a Durham, North Carolina, courthouse Monday evening as chants of "We, we are the revolution!" and "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!" rang out below.

Raw video showed a yellow line tossed up to her, which she secured around the statue's neck - and then the protesters below pulled the line and toppled the statue into a crumpled heap. And the crowd, not surprisingly, went wild.

© WNCN-TV video screenshot

    

And for good measure, protesters gave the statue extra doses of punishment.

They took turns giving it the middle finger and spitting on it.

And they also stomped and kicked it "Office Space"-style:

Durham police told WNCN-TV that they monitored the protests to make sure they were "safe" but didn't interfere with the statue toppling since it occurred on county property.

Durham County Sheriff's deputies videotaped the statue toppling, the station added, but didn't intervene, either.

After the statue came down, protesters began marching and blocking traffic, WNCN said.

"Today, we got a small taste of justice," protester Jose Ramos told the station after the statue was pulled down.

"When I see a Confederate statue in downtown Durham, or really anywhere, it fills me with a lot of rage and frustration," protest organizer Loan Tran said to WNCN.

Protest leaders told the station Monday's demonstration was in reaction to the deadly clash of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend and was meant to "smash white supremacy."

"People can be mobilized and people are angry and when enough people are angry, we don't have to look to politicians to sit around in air conditions [sic] and do nothing when we can do things ourselves," Takiyah Thompson, a protester, added to WNCN.

Isn't destruction of public property a crime? More to the point, do these "protestors" not see the logical consequence to their actions?

• Charlottesville: Happy Birthday George Soros, American society controlled demolition and civil war
• Will a Trump take-down result in a civil war?
• Is US on the verge of a nervous breakdown or civil war?

Update: While no one was arrested for tearing down the statue in Durham on Monday, today County Sheriff Andrews announced that investigators are working on identifying the vandals and bringing criminal charges against them.

"We decided that restraint and public safety would be our priority," Andrews said in a statement posted on his agency's website. "As the Sheriff, I am not blind to the offensive conduct of some demonstrators nor will I ignore their criminal conduct."

He continued: "My deputies showed great restraint and respect for the constitutional rights of the group expressing their anger and disgust for recent events in our country. Racism and incivility have no place in our country or Durham."

Update (Aug. 16): It looks like Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott's calls for "immediate" removal were literal. On Monday, the Baltimore City Council passed a resolution for the monuments' removal, and overnight last night, four were removed by city crews.

As for the Durham vandalism, arrests have been made:

The protester who climbed a ladder to help bring down a Confederate soldier statue was arrested Tuesday, and Sheriff Mike Andrews said his office will pursue felony charges against others.

"Let me be clear, no one is getting away with what happened," Andrews said.

Takiyah Thompson, a member of Workers World Party and student at N.C. Central University, was arrested after activists held a press conference at NCCU Tuesday afternoon.

In a release Thompson said she was the one who tied a rope around the soldier's neck so that others could pull the statue to the ground.

The protest left The Confederate Soldiers Monument, dedicated on May 10, 1924, headless on the grass.

Thompson was charged with participation in a riot with property damage in excess of $1,500 (Class H Felony) and inciting others to riot where there is property damage in excess of $1,500 (Class F Felony), the Sheriff's Office said.

She also was charged with disorderly conduct by injury to a statue and damage to real property, both misdemeanors.

Activists are demanding all charges be dropped and that Gov. Cooper call for the immediate removal of all other Confederate statues.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings called his city's Confederate statues "monuments of propaganda", acknowledging the growing calls for their removal:

"This is simple. We could remove them, the question is, how do we heal on this issue? To do that we have to talk and listen to one another," said Rawlings.

Coupled with citizen input, the task force will report to the city council during the next 90 days.

This comes after "a coalition of Dallas community and religious leaders issued a letter calling for such action". Yet another group made up predominantly of African Americans has called for them to stay. See: Mostly black group works to protect Confederate statues in Dallas

Meanwhile, black lawmakers in the Capitol are saying its 9+ Confederate statues should go:

"We will never solve America's race problem if we continue to honor traitors who fought against the United States in order to keep African-Americans in chains. By the way, thank god, they lost," Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) told ABC News.

However, a CBC aide told The Hill that the group is not currently working on any legislative efforts, like resolutions or letters, on Confederate statues in the Capitol. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the sole African-American member of the Mississippi delegation, said: "It is past time for action to remove all Confederate symbols in the U.S. Capitol and on the Mississippi state flag." Previous calls for their removal have been unsuccessful. Only states have the power to remove those statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection. Rep. Hank Johnson, another Black Caucus member, has a slightly different take, however: "Congressman Johnson believes we should revise and supplement history with statues of other Americans who have contributed to our collective experience and story. The goal should be revision and inclusion as opposed to the obliteration of the nation's history," Johnson spokesman Andy Phelan said.

Update: Three more of the Durham activists have been arrested: Dante Strobino (35), Ngoc Loan Tran (24) and Peter Gull (39). All three, like Thompson (already arrested), are associated with the World Workers Party. Tran and Strobino are charged with felonies relating to inciting and participating in a riot that damaged property.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has called for the removal of a giant mountainside carving depicting Confederate figures, saying it "remains a blight on our state".

Removing the faces of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson would take a monster of a sandblaster and require a change in state law. The Georgia code has a clear mandate for the memorial, saying it should be "preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause."

Lawmakers and civil rights groups have called for the removal of Confederate symbols at the memorial for years. After the 2015 shooting deaths of nine black worshipers by a white supremacist in Charleston, several legislators pushed for a boycott until Rebel flags at the site come down.

Update: A judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia, has been suspended for saying: "The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history."

On Saturday, Hinkle had written that protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia were "snowflakes" with "no concept of history," as they came to counter a rally of white nationalists who gathered to oppose the planned relocation of a statue to Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

"In Charlottesville everyone is upset over Robert E. Lee statue," Hinkle's post said. "It looks like all of the snowflakes have no concept of history. It is what it is. Get over it and move on. Leave history alone - those who ignore history are deemed (sic) to repeat the mistake of the past."

That post was written approximately an hour before a car crashed into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing a woman and injuring 19 other people. Police have charged the driver, who reportedly took part in the white nationalist rally, with second-degree murder.

"I have suspended Judge Hinkle effective immediately while I consider the appropriate final action," Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) Tuesday.

Hinkle told the AJC he didn't "see anything controversial" about the posts.

"But you know, with the way things are going in the world today, I guess everything's controversial," he told the outlet.

Hysteria. His comment shouldn't have been controversial. In the face of public outcry, the civil way to remove an offensive statue or monument is to do so legally, and preserve the works for history - if such a step must be taken. Destruction of works of art and history is a crime. The library of Alexandria had some offensive books in it. The statues destroyed by ISIS were of heathen gods and ancient killers. Neither of those things justify the willful destruction of history. So yes, there is a comparison to be made between ISIS, book-burning Nazis, and monument-destroying leftists.

Update (Aug. 17): Trump's Interior Department has stated it won't be removing monuments to Confederate soldiers at national battlefields that are "an important part of our country's history."

"The National Park Service is committed to safeguarding these memorials while simultaneously educating visitors holistically and objectively about the actions, motivations and causes of the soldiers and states they commemorate," spokesman Jeremy Barnum told E&E News.
...
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he supports Trump "in uniting our communities and prosecuting the criminals to the fullest extent of the law."

"The racism, bigotry and hate perpetrated by violent white supremacist groups has no place in America," Zinke told E&E News. "It does not represent what I spent 23 years defending in the United States military and what millions of people around the globe have died for. We must respond to hate with love, unity and justice."

The National Park Service maintains numerous monuments to Confederate soldiers at battlefield sites across the country.

For example, Gettysburg, Penn., has 12 monuments to Confederate soldiers. The Battle of Antietam, which took place near Sharpsburg, Md., in 1862, has six Confederate monuments.

A Gettysburg National Military Park spokeswoman told The Evening Sun Wednesday they were not removing Confederate monuments to those who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

"These memorials, erected predominantly in the early and mid-20th century, are an important part of the cultural landscape," Katie Lawhon said.

Zinke told reporters in July that battlefield monuments were worth preserving for their historical value.

"Don't rewrite history," Zinke said Antietam National Battlefield. "Understand it for what it is and teach our kids the importance of looking at our magnificent history as a country and why we are what we are."

Donna Brazile has called for the removal of 8 Confederate statues displayed in Congress. Amy Moreno writes, for TruthFeed:

The left is continuing their push to erase all Confederate monuments.

Just like ISIS, liberals are running from town to town, tearing down our Confederate statues, in the name of progressiveness and political correctness.

It's one of the most disgusting and disturbing things I have witnessed from the left.

Confederate statues today...

What will it be tomorrow?

Books, movies, classic music?

Where does the left-wing purge of all "offensive" culture end?

Update: The number of Durham arrests is now up to 8.

Hundreds of people tried to symbolically turn themselves in before being directed away from the courthouse. "We do not want charges, especially felony charges brought against those who acted in our best interest," activist Serena Sebring told reporters at the courthouse Thursday. Sebring said she was not involved in Monday's action but was rallying with hundreds of others in support of those arrested and charged.
...
Four more activists turned themselves in Thursday, with the solidarity group accompanying them to jail. They have been identified as Raul Jimenez, 26, Aaron Caldwell, 24, Elena Everett, 27 and Taylor Cook, 24, all residents of Durham. They have been charged with three misdemeanor counts of causing injury to property and defacing a public monument, and two felonies for participating and inciting a riot with property damage in excess of $1,500. They will appear in court on Friday.

Caldwell told the Durham Herald-Sun he was notified by a legal team associated with the activists that there was a warrant for his arrest.

The crowd then returned to the courthouse where three other activists, who were arrested by Durham County sheriff deputies Wednesday, were scheduled for a court hearing. Those were identified as Peter Gilbert, 36, Dante Emmanuel Strobino, 35 and Loan Tran, 24 all of Durham.
...
"Our response to the charges that have been brought against myself and others involved and Takiyah, are [that] the charges are outrageous, the charges are unnecessary," Tran told the Herald-Sun. Tran added that the charges represented "a deeply racist, white supremacist system that is more interested in preserving its relics of white supremacy." She said people in her community are more concerned with issues surrounding policing, incarceration, education and immigration justice, "issues that are impacting our people every single day."

The three activists were given a court date of September 12.
...
Local lawmakers tried to intervene on behalf of the activists. Durham City Council member Charlie Reece approached Sheriff Mike Andrews not to press felony charges against the accused. Reece had questioned whether the statue, which he called a "hunk of junk metal" was worth $1,500, according to the Herald-Sun.

No, not outrageous or unnecessary. Just because you have an idiosyncratic view of history, that does not mean destroying public property, and art no less, is okay. It's still illegal. The United States during the Civil War was "deeply racist", on both sides. That doesn't mean that history should be effaced and destroyed. Instead it should be understood. But emotion trumps understanding for activists like this.

Update (Aug. 18): Vandals defaced (literally) a Robert E. Lee statue near the entrance of Duke Chapel in North Carolina on the night of the 16th/17th. And a statue of Supreme Court justice Roger B. Taney (who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision upholding slavery and denying African Americans citizenship) was legally removed from Maryland State House grounds this morning.

In other news, VICE magazine tweeted a call to blow up Mount Rushmore (and subsequently deleted it). They explained that the tweet was a failed "rhetorical device", misguided and insensitive. It's unclear what point they were actually trying to make. Since VICE isn't exactly right-leaning, they presumably weren't intending on pointing out the absurdity of destroying history.

Update (Aug. 19): A handy list of monuments removed, covered, or vandalized recently:

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
A statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney, who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery and denied citizenship to African-Americans, was removed from the grounds of the Maryland State House Friday and trucked away to storage. Three of four voting members of the State House Trust voted to move the bronze statue, which was erected in 1872.

HELENA, MONTANA
The city removed a granite fountain Friday that stood in a park as a monument to Confederate soldiers since 1916. One of a few people on hand to oppose the removal was detained when she defied orders to vacate the grounds of the fountain. She was later released.

BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
The city near the Canadian border removed signs identifying Pickett Bridge, which was named for Confederate Capt. George E. Pickett. North of Vancouver, former highway markers honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis were splashed with red or black paint at a park on private land Friday.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS
The Dallas-area theme park Six Flags Over Texas will no longer fly the Confederate flag. The park named for the six flags that have flown over the state said Friday that will now fly six American flags.

NEW YORK
Transit officials will alter subway tiles at a Manhattan station that have a cross-like design similar to that of the Confederate flag. The design at the 40th Street entrance to the Times Square stop isn't flag-related but transit officials said they want to avoid confusion about their meaning. Earlier this week, plaques honoring Gen. Robert E. Lee were removed from the property of a now-closed Brooklyn church. Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called on the Army to rename two streets at Fort Hamilton that honor Lee and another Confederate general.

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
A statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Duke University was found defaced Thursday. The statue in the entryway to Duke Chapel had damage to its nose. Another monument of a Confederate soldier that stood in front of a government office building in town was pulled down by protesters Monday night. Four people have been arrested, and authorities say more arrests are planned. Earlier, two statues in Wilmington were defaced with spray paint.

LEESBURG, VIRGINIA
A statue outside a courthouse dedicated to Confederate soldiers was vandalized. Obscenities and other graffiti were spray-painted on the 1908 monument sometime before dawn Thursday. The damage was repaired.

MADISON, WISCONSIN
A plaque honoring confederate soldiers was removed Wednesday from a cemetery and a second monument will be taken down later. The plaque lauded "the valiant" Confederate soldiers buried there. Mayor Paul Soglin said the Civil War was "a defense of the deplorable practice of slavery."

PHOENIX
A Confederate monument outside Phoenix was found covered in tar and feathers on Thursday. Earlier, the Confederate Troops Memorial outside the Arizona Capitol was spray-painted white. It was the second time in a week that the memorial had been vandalized.

BALTIMORE
Four Confederacy-related monuments were hauled away on trucks under cover of darkness late Tuesday night and early Wednesday. Mayor Catherine Pugh said she was concerned that such statues might spark violence.

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE
A 1914 monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers was splattered with paint earlier this week. Opponents are signing a petition to have it removed from a neighborhood near the University of Tennessee campus.

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
A 52-foot-tall obelisk honoring Confederate soldiers and sailors was covered by wooden panels at the mayor's order. The 1905 monument is in a downtown park. The cover-up Tuesday prompted a lawsuit by Alabama's attorney general, who argues that it violates a new law prohibiting the removal of historical structures, including rebel memorials.

LOS ANGELES
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where many movie legends are interred, removed a 6-foot Confederate monument that was erected in 1925. The stone and attached plaque stood near the graves of more than 30 Confederate veterans and their families.

SAN DIEGO
The city removed a plaque naming Confederate President Jefferson Davis from a downtown plaza Wednesday. The 1926 plaque honored San Diego as the Western terminus of the Jefferson Davis Highway between Virginia and California.

Comment: It doesn't sound like the left is looking for peaceful resolution to the building tensions in the US, instead they're pouring gasoline onto a nasty fire.