Four Arrested After Toppling a Durham Confederate Statue

A total of four protesters have now been arrested in connection to the protests that toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, C.N.

On Monday, protesters were seen outside a Durham courthouse chanting, “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” while they pulled a statue of a Confederate soldier to the ground.

While Durham police did not make any arrests at the time since the incident was on Durham County property, Durham County has now made four arrests.

According to ABC 11, 22-year-old Takiyah Thompson, 24-year-old Ngoc Loan Tran, 35-year-old Dante Emmanuel Strobin, and 39-year-old Peter Gull Gilbert have now all been arrested in association with the Durham protest and statue toppling.

While Thompson arrested on Tuesday, Gilbert was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon, and Loan and Strobin were reportedly arrested outside the Thompson’s hearing.

ABC 11 reports all four protesters have been charged with an array of misdemeanors and felonies relating to the destruction of property and inciting a riot, including:

• Disorderly conduct by injury to a statue (Class II Misdemeanor)
• Damage to real property (statue as a fixture (Class I Misdemeanor)
• Participation in a riot with property damage in excess of $1,500 (Class H Felony)
• Inciting others to riot where there is property damage in excess of $1,500 (Class F Felony)

The Workers World Party Durham chapter, a communist organization, has allegedly set up a fund to help fight Thompson’s case.

Thompson, who is a student at North Carolina Central University and a member of the Workers World Party, said, “The people decided to take matters into our own hands and remove the statue.”

“We are tired of waiting on politicians who could have voted to remove the white supremacist statues years ago, but they failed to act. So we acted,” she continued.

Tran told ABC11 after being arrested, “More and more each day, we know what side the people are on - the people are on the side of freedom and justice and liberation," said Tran. "And the folks who are arresting people, the folks who are brutalizing people, the folks who are running this jail and complying with this right to premise the system are on the wrong side of history.”

After being released on bond, Tran told WRAL, "Clearly, in Durham, we showed Gov. Roy Cooper that, if he didn't take action, we would."

“So, to Roy Cooper, we say, 'You're welcome,' because it wasn't his original idea to take down these statues. So, we'll see what actions he takes next, but we want to claim that [pulling down the Durham statue] as a win for the movement. The movement did this,” Tran continued.

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