The battle to either save or remove the Confederate monument in Travis Park downtown took center stage this afternoon when groups on each side of the issue held rallies to drive home their point, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Council members Roberto Trevino and Cruz Shaw have circulated a request to place an item on the agenda to dismantle the nearly 120 year old monument and move it a 'more appropriate place,' such as the Confederate Cemetery on the city's east side.
"Passionate but polite," is how one SAPD officer described the crowd. The demonstration supporting the statue remaining in place was larger, and several of the pro monument demonstrators wore body armor.
There was one arrest, but there were no reported injuries, and SAPD officers kept the groups of marchers separated.
The pro monument group held signs reading 'dont erase history.' There were some Confederate flags in evidence in the crowd.
Anti monument demonstrators told me such a feature doesn't belong in the downtown of a major American city.
"We can say in different types of ways how these monuments are important, but, at the end of the day, they represent a time when I represent a time when I could have been something you could kill, just property," one anti monument activist told 1200 WOAI news
But opposing any change to the monument's status was a coalition of groups led by the This is Texas Freedom Force.
"What this boils down to is two Councilmen wanting to make a name for themselves and they are trying to do that by removing the Confederate Monument in Travis Park. This Is Texas Freedom Force has taken the stance since our formation that none of Texas History should be erased. Those that do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. We believe that this monument should continue to proudly stand just like it has since 1899 without being touched," the group wrote on a Facebook page promoting today's rally.