A statue of African-American tennis legend Arthur Ashe on Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue has been vandalised with the words "White Lives Matter".

The Arthur Ashe monument was dedicated in 1996 to memorialise the Richmond native and counterbalance the string of statues on Memorial Avenue dedicated to Confederate leaders.

Concrete barriers have been installed around a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee that has been ordered for removal on Monument Avenue, hours after demonstrators tore down a different Confederate monument.

The Lee statue, along with other monuments along the avenue and throughout the city, have been rallying points and sites of clashes with police during demonstrations that began more than two weeks ago following Mr Floyd's death.

It's the third Confederate statue, and the fourth monument, to be torn down by demonstrators in Virginia.