100 Seek to ‘Symbolically’ Turn Themselves in for NC Monument Destruction

(CN) - Scores of college students and activists gathered outside the Durham County courthouse on Thursday morning to "symbolically" turn themselves in for toppling a confederate monument on Monday.

Durham police said about 100 people gathered outside the courthouse and then walked down the street to the nearby jail, where the magistrate's office in located.

Once there, their entry into the building was blocked by deputies, who only let in reporters and those with business on the court calendar.

The protest was held to support four individuals who were previously arrested for the destruction of the monument and were scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

The monument, dedicated in 1924, showed a Confederate soldier with “The Confederate States of America” engraved on its pedestal.

Peter Gull Gilbert, 36, Dante Emmanuel Strobino, 35, and Ngoc Loan Tran, 24, all of Durham, were arrested Wednesday. A fourth man, Takiyah Fatima Thompson, 22, had been arrested a day earlier.

The four have been charged with disorderly conduct by injury of a statue and damage to real property, both misdemeanors, and participation in a riot with property damage in excess of $1,500 and inciting others to riot where there is property demand in excess of $1,500, both felonies.

Each of the four was released on an unsecured, $10,000 bond.

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