NEW ORLANS, LA (WCMH) – Protesters gathered in New Orleans on Saturday with the intention of removing a statue of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.

The protest came just days before a federal appeals court will hear a case concerning the removal of Civil War-era monuments honoring confederates. Earlier this year, the city voted to remove four Confederate monuments, but the statue of Jackson was not one of them.

Take ‘Em Down NOLA, a group advocating the removal of the Confederate monuments, says that the statue of Jackson is just as bad as the other monuments.

“For him to stand as a symbol that we praise in the middle of our city is just backwards and wrong,” said Shahamat Uddin, a student at Tulane University. “And we need to do something good to create that progress and create that progressive system that would bring him down.”

Take ‘Em Down NOLA organizers had planned to pull the statue down with rope and brute force, but they encountered a counter-protest of statue defenders.

“My son got engaged in front of this statue in November and there’s nothing wrong with the statue,” said counter-protester Lorrie Drennan. “It’s the people.”

Among the counter-protesters was former KKK Wizard David Duke.

Chanting “Go home, Duke!” and “We can’t get no satisfaction until we take down Andrew Jackson” the protesters attempted to get close to the monument. Police officers used barricades to block the protesters, and they continued their march down the street.

The New Orleans Police Department says that seven people were arrested, six for disturbing he piece and one for aggravated assault and illegal use of a weapon.

“We gave them that space,” said an NOPD spokesperson. “It did not get violent but the moment we saw that there was something where an ordinance was violated, our law was violated, we were able to make those extractions, bring those people out safely.”

For now, the statue of Andrew Jackson still stands.