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08th Jun 2020

Black Lives Matter protesters tear down Edward Colston statue

Reuben Pinder

Black Lives Matter

Protesters in Bristol tore down a statue of Edward Colston on Sunday during a Black Lives Matter protest.

The statue was rolled towards and dumped into the river Avon.

Edward Colston was a slave trader whose name pervades much of Bristol’s public spaces, like concert venue Colston Hall, and many schools that are named after him.

Bristol residents had tried for years to have the statue removed via petitions to no avail, and took matters into their own hands by toppling the statue.

Meanwhile on Sunday, protesters in London moved from the American embassy to Parliament square, some of whom vandalised the statue of former prime minister Winston Churchill, writing that he “was a racist” underneath his name.