Mayor of Bristol says slave trader statue in the city ‘was an affront’

The city’s mayor has said that a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was “an affront” after it was torn down during a protest against racism in Bristol

Marvin Rees has said that he felt no “sense of loss” after the statue of Edward Colston, that was made of bronze was pulled down using ropes, before then being thrown into the nearby harbour on Sunday.

The statue of Colston, the prominent 17th Century slave trader, has been a source of controversy in Bristol for many years.

This comes after protesters all across the US have clashed with police at protests following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who pleaded with a white officer who was kneeling on his neck during an arrest, saying that he could not breathe.

The Avon and Somerset Police force has said that a decision was made to not intervene with the taking down of the statue.

Thousands of people across the country attended largely peaceful demonstrations in cities throughout the UK at the weekend, including in Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, and Edinburgh.

But further unrest during protests in London on Sunday resulted in 12 arrests and eight police officers being injured.

This comes after UK protests of the death of George Floyd, and racial inequality began in Hyde Park this week as police in the UK have said that they hope justice will be done in the US.

Around ten thousand people showed up in Bristol on Sunday for the protest which saw the Edward Colston statue brought to the ground and dragged through the streets to the harbour, where it was ditched in the water.

Colston worked as part of the Royal African Company, which captured and transported around 80,000 men, women and children from Africa to America.

On his death in 1721, he left behind a large amount of his wealth to charities and his financial legacy can still be seen on Bristol’s streets, memorials and the city’s buildings.

Bristol’s mayor, Marvin Rees, has said that the statue will be retrieved from the harbour “at some point” and went on to say that it will likely end up in a city museum. He continued by saying:

“I think circumstances came to a head and people felt the need to take the statue down,”

“I can’t and won’t pretend the statue of a slave trader in a city I was born and grew up in wasn’t an affront to me and people like me.”

“People in Bristol who don’t want that statue in the middle of the city came together and it is my job to unite, hear those voices and hold those truths together for people for who that statue is a personal affront.”

“There was a very large number of people but very few arrests. Only one piece of criminal damage and that was at the statue, people didn’t go around smashing shop fronts or verbal confrontations,”

Mark Weston, the leader of the conservative group on Bristol City Council, said the “perpetrators should be prosecuted for a wanton act of criminal damage”.

“I do not believe that anyone has the right to deface or destroy public property, no matter how warranted they believe their actions or motivation to be,” he said.