The statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol city centre – often the centre of debates about marking Bristol’s dark history – was ‘torn down, reports The Bristol Cable.
The Bristol Cable writes:
Today’s Black Lives Matter protest, attended by an estimated 10,000 people was dominated by one event: the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th century slave trader.
The bronze memorial to Colston which has stood in Bristol’s city centre since 1895, came to an inglorious demise. A rope was tied around his neck, before being pulled down by protesters, rolled down the road and pushed into the river while cheered on by a crowd of onlookers.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: ‘We have a statue of someone who made their money by throwing our people into water…and now he’s on the bottom of the water,’…
Avon and Somerset Police released a statement shortly afterwards calling the act one of ‘criminal damage’, and saying they will investigate to identify those involved…
Thousands of people took to Bristol’s streets for the Black Lives Matter protest following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. The protest itself had been debated given the risks of mass gatherings during Covid-19, but other protests took place today in London, Manchester, Glasgow….
The existence of the controversial statue, along with the buildings in Bristol that bear Colston’s name, have been contested by campaign groups for decades who have pursued its removal through the conventional channels. The campaign intensified in the last few years and some institutions decided to get rid of his name, such as music venue Colston Hall and Colston’s Primary School. But the statue remained standing…
Edward Colston was a 17th century manager and deputy governor of the slave trading Royal African Company, which in the years of Colston’s involvement (1680 – 1692) transported around 85,000 enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. Of these, nearly 20,00 died on the crossing, including several thousand children…
