By Travis Fain, WRAL statehouse reporter

Raleigh, N.C. — House leaders pressed the pause button Monday on a $4 million plan to build monuments to African-American heritage in downtown Raleigh, saying they're reconsidering after protesters took down Confederate statues over the weekend.

There was also money in the bill to add "contextual signage" to Confederate monuments outside the State Capitol, and those monuments have largely been removed after protestors dragged Confederate soldier statues down from one of them Friday night.

There were also plans to add monuments on Capitol Square and to add signage explaining Confederate monuments that some, including Gov. Roy Cooper, have wanted to remove.

Many General Assembly leaders are also upset with Cooper because state law enforcement retreated from the Capitol's largest Confederate monument Friday night, allowing protesters to pull parts of it down.

Then, Cooper declared the rest of Capitol Square's Confederate monuments to be a public safety hazard, and he largely had them removed Sunday despite a 2015 law passed by the General Assembly to protect such monuments.