MANASSAS -- A large pro-immigrant billboard in Old Town Manassas is being dismantled before a court hearing could have forced a man to remove it from his property.

The 12-by-40-foot homemade sign was built on Guadencio Fernandez's property in a residential area more than a year ago to protest what he called "racist" policies that target illegal immigrants.

The sign declared Prince William County and Manassas the "National Capital of Intolerance." It likened the treatment of illegal immigrants to slavery and Jim Crow laws. "We will not be your slaves of the 21st century," the sign concluded.

On Thursday night, friends and supporters gathered to help Fernandez take it down. The Manassas contractor who moved to the United States from Mexico in 1979 declined to talk with reporters.

"We can't make any statement at this point," he said.

Supporters have called the billboard "the liberty wall" for its location on Liberty Street. They said the city has worked to silence Fernandez's political views. The sign was created on a wall of a home that was destroyed by fire in 2006.

Manassas city officials have cited Fernandez several times for failing to obtain a proper permit for the sign.

-- Associated Press