LAWLESS & RECKLESS
As Black Lives Matter protesters topple one statue and deface Churchill memorial — while police stand by — Home Secretary tells the Mail she condemns them as...
PRITI Patel last night hit out at the ‘reckless lawlessness’ that has warped race protests in Britain.
Amid astonishing scenes, activists yesterday toppled a statue in Bristol and defaced a memorial to Winston
Churchill in London.
As demonstrations continue to sweep the country following the death of George Floyd in America, police stood by yesterday, refusing to intervene in what the Home Secretary described as ‘disgraceful vandalism’ by a ‘thuggish minority’.
In echoes of the fall of Saddam Hussein, a masked mob tore down a statue of 17th century slave trader
Edward Colston in Bristol. The group then defaced the 125-year-old monument with paint, before dragging it into the river during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night tweeted that demonstrations
had been ‘subverted by thuggery’. Meanwhile, a police officer was recovering in hospital with broken bones and a collapsed lung after a protest on Saturday turned violent.
Thousands protested despite the ban on group gatherings and warnings of spreading Covid-19. The Home Secretary told the Mail she was ‘sickened’ by Mr Floyd’s death on May 25 and said that ‘justice and accountability must follow’.
But she added: ‘There are no excuses for the unlawful behaviour and disorder we have witnessed throughout the weekend including the disgraceful vandalism we saw in Bristol and the utterly appalling abuse of our police officers.’
Commenting on the desecration of Churchill’s statue, she added: ‘Winston Churchill is one of the greatest Britons who ever lived. We have him to thank for our very freedom to protest. The vandals who did this are repulsive criminals who I want to see brought to justice immediately.’
Police officers had suffered ‘serious injuries’ inflicted by ‘a small minority of violent people using the guise of peaceful protest to pursue reckless lawlessness’, she said. She added: ‘I know that the British public will be as appalled as I am at those scenes.’
In Bristol yesterday, officers watched as dozens stamped on Colston’s memorial and battered it with sticks and skateboards before daubing it with red and blue paint. They then heaved it to the harbourside to dump in the water.
Meanwhile, in London, graffiti was scrawled on the statue of Sir Winston by a crowd chanting ‘Churchill was a racist’.
They also sprayed Churchill ‘was a racist’ in black paint on the Parliament Square monument. A group of uniformed police stood by as demonstrators took photographs, strapping a Black Lives Matter sign on the memorial and banners reading ‘British Colonialism is to Blame’.
A section of the M6 also had to be closed near Coventry because 100 Black Lives Matter members blocked the carriageway on foot.
Mr Johnson tweeted: ‘People have a right to protest peacefully and while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police. These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery – and they are a
betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account.’
Privately, there was disquiet among some senior ministers about the softly- softly approach adopted by police when the demonstrations began to get ugly.
One Whitehall source said: ‘I don’t know what the Metropolitan Police have been up to but they have got some questions to answer. How was it that people were able to deface Churchill’s statue again?
‘It’s the same in Bristol – what were the police doing while people were climbing up that statue and putting ropes round it to pull it down?’ The disorder came after violence flared earlier in the weekend during a protest on Saturday when bikes and missiles were thrown at police in London leaving one female officer with a collapsed lung and broken bones when her horse bolted and she crashed into a traffic light.
Yesterday there were a series of protests in Bristol, Edinburgh and London, attended by stars such as rapper Stormzy. Madonna joined demonstrators on Saturday.
Campaigners have expressed fury at the commemoration of Colston – a figure prominently involved in Britain’s slave trade and a petition calling for its removal had recently gathered 11,000 signatures.
The council had covered the statue in black bin bags to protect it.
But these were torn down by protesters before a noose was fastened around the memorial to pull it down.
A woman with a megaphone scrambled on to the plinth and told a screaming crowd: ‘We need to start a revolution.’
Superintendent Andy Bennett said the force had decided to take a ‘neighbourhood policing approach’ to the protest to avoid ‘causing any tension’. The monument had been an ‘emotive issue’ for years, he said. Hours later, the force announced it had launched an investigation into criminal damage. Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid last night tweeted: ‘I grew up in Bristol. I detest how Edward Colston profited from the slave trade. But, this is not ok. If Bristolians wants to remove a monument it should be done democratically – not by criminal damage.’
Organisers of Black Lives Matters moved to distance themselves, claiming the statue had ‘nothing to do’ with them.