UK Protestors Tear Down Slave Trader’s Statue And Yeet It Right Into The Harbour

British merchant Edward Colston was first remembered as a great benefactor to the city of Bristol, a man who bequeathed his fortune to charities and civic institutions.

In recent decades, his legacy has been reappraised: after all, Colston was a slave trader, who built his wealth in the 17th Century through the sale of human life.

From today onwards, he’ll be remembered as a big soggy bitch, thanks to the protestors who toppled his statue and rolled it into the harbour.

BBC reports that Black Lives Matter protestors in Bristol today uprooted the statue, capping off years of intense debate about its message to the Bristol community. 

After using ropes to pull the bronze figure to the ground, protestors took the opportunity to kneel on its neck – echoing the death of black man George Floyd, who died last month after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes.

Footage from the scene shows a large group of demonstrators rolling the statue through the streets, before lifting it over a guard rail and dropping it into the water below.

https://twitter.com/MomentumBristol/status/1269646788102889472

Police have reportedly opened an investigation into the incident, with Superintendent Andy Bennett of the Bristol, Avon and Somerset Police claiming protestors “clearly committed an act of criminal damage.”

Since the statue’s journey into the drink, protestors have repurposed the remaining plinth as a site of remembrance for the lives taken by racist violence.

While Colston’s statue is now resting underwater, some onlookers believe the former site of his memorial should be preserved, as-is, as a contemporary reflection on slavery, bigotry, and injustice.

https://twitter.com/TyronWilson/status/1269703053315395586

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