State Attorney General Sues Birmingham over Covering of Confederate Monument

The city of Birmingham and its mayor are being sued by Alabama's attorney general for obscuring a Confederate monument in a downtown park. Steve Marshall, in a statement, said "The city of Birmingham does not have the right to violate a new law protecting such markers and leaves my office with no choice but to file suit." Legislators passed a law earlier this year prohibiting the removal of historical structures including rebel memorials. Birmingham Mayor William Bell had ordered the city's 52-foot-tall Confederate obelisk in Linn Park Memorial covered with wooden panels. City workers began installing the structure Tuesday, just days after deadly violence over a Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Virginia. Marshall said his office determined that city had "altered" or "otherwise disturbed' the memorial in violation of the letter and spirit of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. Bell's office says it is considering ways to challenge the law restricting the city's authority to remove the memorial.