Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville covered in black in mourning for Heather Heyer
Workers covered a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a black tarp on Wednesday afternoon in a symbol of mourning for the woman who was killed after a white nationalist rally earlier this month.
A small crowd cheered as crews covered the statue of the Confederate general riding a horse, shrouding it in black, memorializing the death of Heather Heyer, who died on Aug. 12 after a white nationalist plowed into a crowd with his car.
RELATED: Click to see images of the statue draped in black
Heyer was among those counter-protesting the “Unite the Right” rally, in which a swarm of white supremacists, white nationalist and Nazi sympathizers, descended on Charlottesville.
The rally is believed to be the largest gathering of white nationalists in the last decade.
James Alex Fields Jr., who drove the car into the crowd, has been charged with second-degree murder in her death.
More from NBC News: Mother of Charlottesville Victim Heather Heyer Says She Won’t Meet President Trump
The city council voted early Tuesday to drape the Lee statue and another of Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson at another nearby park, according to the Associated Press.
That vote came during a chaotic meeting packed with irate residents who screamed and cursed at councilors over the city's response to the rally, the AP reported.
It was the first meeting held by the city council was the first since the “Unite the Right” rally.
Confederate statues have begun to come down across the United States. Statues in cities like New Orleans were removed prior to the rally, but many more have been taken down after the flashpoint rally.
RELATED: Controversy surrounding Confederate memorials
