Media playback is unsupported in your gadget Media captionProtesters in Bristol pull down a statue of slave de
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A statue of a slave dealer which was torn down throughout an anti-racism protest in Bristol was “an affront”, town’s mayor has stated.
Marvin Rees stated he felt no “sense of loss” after the bronze statue of Edward Colston was pulled down utilizing ropes and thrown into the harbour on Sunday.
The statue of the distinguished 17th Century slave dealer has been a supply of controversy within the metropolis for years.
Avon and Somerset Police stated a call was taken to not intervene.
1000’s of individuals attended largely peaceable demonstrations in cities throughout the UK on the weekend, together with in Manchester, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
However unrest in London on Sunday resulted in eight law enforcement officials being injured and 12 arrests.
Marvin Rees stated the statue could be retrieved and would seemingly be put right into a museum
Ten thousand folks descended on Bristol on Sunday for the protest which noticed the Colston statue torn down and dragged by way of the streets to the harbour, the place it was thrown into the water.
Colston was a member of the Royal African Firm, which transported about 80,000 males, ladies and youngsters from Africa to the Americas.
On his loss of life in 1721, he bequeathed his wealth to charities and his legacy can nonetheless be seen on Bristol’s streets, memorials and buildings.
After the statue was toppled, a protester was pictured along with his knee on the determine’s neck – harking back to the video exhibiting George Floyd, the black man who died whereas being restrained by a Minnesota police officer.
- Updates and response to the statue being torn down
Bristol’s mayor stated the statue could be retrieved from the harbour “sooner or later” and it was prone to find yourself in a metropolis museum.
“I believe circumstances got here to a head and folks felt the necessity to take the statue down,” Mr Rees stated.
“I can not and will not fake the statue of a slave dealer in a metropolis I used to be born and grew up in wasn’t an affront to me and folks like me.
“Individuals in Bristol who don’t desire that statue in the course of town got here collectively and it’s my job to unite, hear these voices and maintain these truths collectively for folks for who that statue is a private affront.”
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The statue of Edward Colston was dragged by way of Bristol earlier than being thrown into the harbour
Police stated a call was taken by officers on the protest to not intervene as folks pulled the statue down.
Supt Andy Bennett stated though he was “upset, he did perceive” because the statue had brought on “plenty of angst” for town’s black neighborhood.
“We took a tactical resolution that to cease folks cease doing the act could have brought on additional dysfunction, so the most secure factor to do was to permit it to happen,” he stated.
The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, has criticised the choice to not intervene, saying it despatched a destructive message.
Supt Bennett stated police had recognized 17 suspects over the prison harm to the Colston statue and that investigations continued.
Mr Rees described the protest as a “well-managed event by police and council officers”.
“There was a really giant variety of folks however only a few arrests. Just one piece of prison harm and that was on the statue, folks did not go round smashing store fronts or verbal confrontations,” he stated.
However chief of the conservative group on Bristol Metropolis Council, Mark Weston, stated the “perpetrators must be prosecuted for a wanton act of prison harm”.
“I don’t consider that anybody has the appropriate to deface or destroy public property, irrespective of how warranted they consider their actions or motivation to be,” he stated.
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Ten thousand persons are estimated to have participate within the Bristol protest on Sunday
A petition has been arrange at change.org for a statue of civil rights campaigner Dr Paul Stephenson to be erected as a substitute.
Dr Stephenson led the Bristol bus boycott within the 1960s, which resulted in a ban on ethnic minorities engaged on metropolis buses being overturned.
Calls have additionally been made to take away the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes at Oriel Faculty at Oxford, with campaigners saying the college had “failed to handle its institutional racism”.
Boris Johnson has vowed that these answerable for violence throughout the anti-racism demonstrations in cities might be held to account.
The prime minister stated the protests had been “subverted by thuggery”.