Watch: Confederate Statues Covered In Charlottesville

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — Workers in Charlottesville have covered up the statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Wednesday.

The Daily Progress in Charlottesville reports that the city council made the decision after a chaotic meeting that went into early Tuesday morning. The council decided to cover up the statues following residents' backlash over the city's decisions leading to the outbreak of violence at a white nationalist demonstration.

The local newspaper reports that the statues were covered at 1 p.m. The black shrouds covering the statues are meant to show the city's mourning over the victims killed in events relating to the Aug. 12 demonstration. Charlottesville resident Heather Heyer died after being run over by a driver believed to have Nazi sympathies, while dozens of others were injured. Hours later, two Virginia state troopers, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, were killed in a helicopter accident while monitoring the violent clashes. (Subscribe to a Virginia Patch News Alert and Newsletter. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Notable cheers could be heard as the Lee statue was covered, but the city's decision also drew some backlash. The Daily Progress reports that a demonstrator attempted to cut the cover off the Lee statue.

The white nationalists' demonstration was targeted at the city's decision to remove the Lee statue. The city council voted in February to remove it from a public park and to sell it in April. The removal is on hold since a judge issued a six-month injunction in May. A trial is expected on Sept. 1, court records show.

Similar rallies in support of keeping the Lee statue up included a Ku Klux Klan rally in July and a gathering of other groups of white nationalists in May.

WATCH: Charlottesville Takes Action To Help Mend The City After Deadly Rally

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has called upon localities and the General Assembly to remove Confederate statues in light on the violence in Charlottesville. The governor says a number of groups have since applied to hold similar demonstrations on Richmond's iconic Monument Avenue. He has signed an executive order to temporarily ban rallies at Richmond's Lee Monument and has directed officials to look at how rally permits are issued.

Charlottesville city council members have also directed the Board of Architectural Review to make a decision on removing the Jackson statue, according to The Daily Progress.

Watch the covering of the Robert E. Lee statue below: