The statue of Edward Colston has been controversial for years in Bristol, England. Erected in 1895 on a street named after this important slave trader who died in the 18th centurye century, it was torn from its pedestal, this Sunday, June 7, by ropes pulled by a group of anti-racist demonstrators.
Once the statue on the ground, they rushed over it to trample it, according to images broadcast on social networks and relayed by British television.
The statue was then dragged through the port city before being thrown, sprayed with red paint, into the Avon River.
#Bristol statue of Edward Colston has been pulled down and pushed into the harbor during the #BlackLivesMattter market pic.twitter.com/ME1yxAhw7G
– BBC Radio Bristol (@bbcrb) June 7, 2020
One of them is photographed kneeling on the neck of the statue, reproducing the gesture of the white policeman who asphyxiated the American black George Floyd end of May in the United States, setting off a worldwide protest movement against racism and police brutality.
This man was a slave trader. He was generous to Bristol but he was on the back of slavery and it is absolutely abject. It’s an insult to the citizens of Bristol
, said John McAllister, a 71-year-old protester quoted by the British agency ?Press Association.
An open investigation
Local police have announced an investigation and Interior Minister Priti Patel has denounced an act absolutely ashamed
.
Coming from a wealthy merchant family, Edward Colston (1636-1721) got rich in the slave trade. He then used his fortune to finance the development of Bristol and good works, which had long earned him a reputation as a philanthropist before disgrace.
In total, some 10,000 people marched through the streets of Bristol, as did thousands more over the weekend across the UK.
A rally in London’s Parliament Quarter resulted in incidents with the police, which made 29 arrests. Fourteen police officers were injured.
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