REIDSVILLE — A defaced Confederate monument here became the latest in a string of incidents across the nation.

On Friday, police responded to a report of vandalism about 12:15 p.m. at the Greenview Cemetery on Montgomery Street.

Someone painted “KKK,” black lives matter,” “slavery” and other words on the Confederate monument, said Reidsville Police Chief Robert Hassell.The incident happened sometime before 12:15 p.m., when police received the call about it.

“The paint was still wet when we got there,” he said.

He said city workers had been in the cemetery for most of the morning and the monument was untouched. A person who was visiting the cemetery called police to report the vandalism.

Officials are trying to remove the paint, Hassell said. If it doesn’t come off immediately, he said the monument may be covered.

“It’s more respectful, so people going to see their loved ones don’t have to see that,” Hassell said.

On Thursday, Gov. Pat McCrory signed a much-debated monuments bill that critics said would protect Confederate memorials.

In a release sent by the governor's office, McCrory said he had issues with the bill for removing local control over monuments deemed to commemorate "an event, person or military service that is part of North Carolina's history." It would take an act of the General Assembly to remove such a monument.

The Reidsville Confederate soldier monument has had a troubled history in recent years.

In 2011, a Greensboro man drove a work van through the downtown traffic circle and toppled the original monument, which had stood there since 1910.

The decision about whether to replace the monument downtown caused a rift in the community, with some calling the monument a symbol of racism.

Many thought the controversy had eased when the Rockingham County chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy decided to replace the monument, but put it in the cemetery. The new monument was dedicated in a ceremony on July 19, 2014.