RICHMOND, Va. (AP) —

Six property owners in Virginia's capital city of Richmond have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration from removing a towering statue there to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

The lawsuit challenges Northam’s authority to order removal of the Lee statue from Monument Avenue in the ex-capital of the Confederacy. 

Northam's spokeswoman says the governor considers the statue a “divisive symbol.” 

The governor recently ordered its removal, citing the pain gripping the country over the death in police custody of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis. 

Richmond’s Confederate monuments became rallying points for protesters in recent days.