JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local group has gathered at Hemming Plaza Tuesday morning to protest the removal of Confederate statues in the city.
Last week, Jacksonville's City Council President, Anna-Lopez Brosche, asked the city's Parks and Recreation Department and the Planning Department to conduct an inventory of all the Confederate monuments, markers and memorials throughout Jacksonville.
After, Brosche said she plans to introduce legislation to move the monuments from public property to museums or educational institutions.
"It is important to never forget the history of our great city; and these monuments, memorials and markers represent a time in our history that caused pain to so many," Brosche said in the statement.
READ MORE: Remove Confederate monuments from public display, Jacksonville City Council president says
Brosche's proposal comes in response to the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.
However, in response to Brosche's statement, a citizens group led by veterans and historic preservationists gathered at Hemming Plaza to protest the "take down agenda of Occupy Jacksonville," a press release announced.
"It's not about slavery, it says Confederate memorial," said an attendee. "It's to dead soldiers from Florida, 5,000 of them didn't make it home. They were either buried in mass graves unmarked or left on the battlefield. That's what the monument is put up there for. Not about slavery. How could a memorial to dead soldiers offend anyone?"
Representatives from a variety of groups plan to attend, including from the Museum of southern History, the Sons of the American Revolution, Save Their Honor, a Florida Veterans support organization, Save Southern Heritage - Florida and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
We have crews on the scene. Stay with First Coast News as this story develops.