NEW ORLEANS – Vandals chiseled off the nose of a Confederate officer whose memorial remains on South Jefferson Davis Parkway in Mid-City, the second time this week a Confederate monument has been damaged.
In addition to the nose being removed, the base of the statue of Col. Charles Didier Dreux was spray-painted, raising the ire of the group that fought to keep in place the four monuments that were recently removed.
"The continued brazen vandalism and destruction to historic monuments in New Orleans is only outdone by the mayor turning a blind eye to it,” read a statement from the Monumental Task Committee. “By not condemning and punishing these actions the past two years, Mayor Landrieu has advocated for monument vandalism.”
City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The concrete bust of Dreux, on North Jefferson Davis Parkway across Canal Street from where the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis once stood, honors the first Louisiana Confederate field officer to be killed in the Civil War.
Fliers scattered around the base of the Dreux statue were similar to those found near a monument to Father Abram J. Ryan, the poet-priest of the Confederacy. That monument was recently doused with red paint.
Those fliers were reportedly distributed by a group that calls itself The Real Meow Meow Liberation Front–Professional Party Planning Committee.
Landrieu said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” he does not plan to remove any more monuments and will leave that decision to future mayors and city councils.
