A Confederate statue toppled during racial justice protests has been re-erected in Washington

A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled and set on fire in 2020 during social justice protests in Washington, D.C. has been reinstated at the order of President Donald Trump.

The statue of General Albert Pike has long been a source of controversy, as have many Confederate monuments in the US that were erected decades after the Civil War.

The National Park Service announced in August its plan to return the refurbished statue after Trump signed an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity in American History.”

Democratic Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents D.C., called the reinstatement “insulting to members of the military who serve honorably.”

On Monday afternoon, video footage showed the area around the Pike statue in Washington with a sign that read “Area close. Historic preservation work underway.”

“The restoration is consistent with federal responsibilities under the Historic Preservation Act and recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and restore existing statues,” the National Park Service said in a statement.

The statue, which was built in 1901, has been a source of controversy for many years. Local government members have been calling for its removal for decades.

Holmes Norton, a longtime critic, has introduced legislation to permanently remove Pike’s statue several times.

“Pike himself served dishonorably,” she said in a statement after the statue was restored. “He took up arms against the United States, embezzled funds, and was eventually captured and imprisoned by his own troops.”

“Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not left in parks or other places that suggest reverence,” added Holmes Norton.

The Pike statue was the only monument to a Confederate general in the nation’s capital before it was taken down in 2020.

Pike was a longtime leader of the Freemasons, a centuries-old secret society that paid for the statue.

His body is interred at the Washington headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, where there is also a small museum in his honor.

Pike’s critics accuse him of helping to form the Ku Klux Klan. Freemasons insist the evidence does not support the allegations.

The plaque that had previously inscribed the statue read “author, poet, scientist, soldier, jurist, orator, philanthropist and philosopher.”

Anti-racism protesters used ropes and chains to topple the Pike statue following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Then-President Trump, during his first term, condemned the toppling on Twitter, writing: “The DC police were not doing their job as they watched a statue toppled and burned. These people should be arrested immediately. Disgrace to our country.”

Floyd’s death ignited a national uproar over systemic racism, prompting widespread calls to remove Confederate monuments. Eventually, more than 300 such monuments were taken down across the country.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has ordered statues and paintings of Confederate generals to be reinstated.