WASHINGTON: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Wednesday (Jun 10) for removal of 11 Confederate statues from the US Capitol, part of a nationwide push to dismantle such memorials after a black man's killing in police custody sparked mass anti-racism protests.

"Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals" of American democracy and freedom, the top Democrat in Congress wrote to a bipartisan committee.