Workers from Guy M Turner, Inc. prepare to lift the soldier figure from the top of the Confederate monument at the corner of Fourth and Liberty streets, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. The statue stood in front of what used to be the Forsyth County Courthouse but is now a residential building. (Walt Unks/Winston-Salem Journal via AP)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Latest on the removal of a Confederate statue in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

A North Carolina city has taken away the base and column that supported a Confederate statue as it finishes up removal of the monument.

Shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, workers at a historic courthouse in Winston-Salem used a crane to hoist a square, ground-level piece of the base from a grassy area. It appeared to be the last piece of the base.

The removal began Tuesday morning when they took down the statue of an anonymous Confederate soldier and put it on a flatbed truck. They spent the rest of the day dismantling the tall column and base that supported the statue. In all, the monument had stood about 30 feet (9 metres) high.

The monument will eventually be placed in a cemetery.

Mayor Allen Joines said he didn't have an estimate of the cost of the city-funded removal.

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11:25 a.m.

Workers in North Carolina have removed a statue of a Confederate soldier by lifting it off its base with a crane.

Before the statue in Winston-Salem was hoisted away by crane Tuesday morning, workers placed metal rods at its base and a steel cage around it.

After the removal of the Confederate statue, the monument's pedestal and base are expected to be taken away later in the day. Mayor Allen Joines says the monument will be taken to a temporary storage location before it's placed in a cemetery.

The removal is rare in a state where such monuments are largely protected by law.

Winston-Salem argued it had more leeway than other North Carolina cities because the old courthouse property had passed into private hands. A 2015 law all but prohibits the permanent removal of Confederate statues from public land.

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9 a.m.

A construction crew is preparing to take down a Confederate statue in a North Carolina city, a rare move in a state where such monuments are largely protected by law.

Two cranes were set up on either side of the statue in Winston-Salem and traffic is blocked on a main downtown thoroughfare Tuesday morning.

At one point, a worker on a cherry picker was raised up to the top of the statue and appeared to be looking at how to attach a chain or harness.

Winston-Salem argued it had more leeway than other North Carolina cities because the old courthouse property had passed into private hands. A 2015 North Carolina law all but prohibits the permanent removal of Confederate statues from public land.

News from © The Associated Press, 2019