Graffiti attack on statue of the Bruce
VANDALS targeted one of Scotland’s most famous historical monuments in the wake of the Black Lives Matter rallies.
Police have launched an investigation after a statue of Robert the Bruce was covered with graffiti calling him a ‘racist king’.
A wall near the monument, at the site of the Battle of Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, was also defaced with the words ‘bring down the statue’ and ‘BLM’.
It came as two councils announced plans to reassess the way historical figures are celebrated in the light of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Dundee City Council will also review ‘slave traders’ language’ in council chambers, such as the phrase ‘nitty-gritty’, thought by some to have racist origins.
South Ayrshire Council has said it will be consulting the public on how best to ‘celebrate’ some of its high-profile figures.
Seventy-eight statues in the UK – including 15 in Scotland – have been placed on a target list by pro-vandalism website Topple the Racists.
A spokesman for the National Trust for Scotland, which looks after the Bannockburn site, said: ‘We are very disappointed by the vandalism of the iconic Bruce statue at Bannockburn and the A-listed rotunda.
‘We had no inkling that the monuments may be targeted in this way and we can see no logical reason for it.
‘There’s no historical reason to call Bruce a racist. He lived hundreds of years before the Atlantic slave trade.
‘Whoever did this is clearly ignorant of history.’
The spokesman said the Trust was already suffering ‘serious financial hardship’ and removing the graffiti was ‘a cost we could do without’.
Jim Thomson, Stirling Council environment convener, said: ‘We have to promote Black Lives Matter and it is absolutely crucial that we are all on the same side, so vandalising a site depicting Scottish history from 700 years ago does not help that cause.’
Police last night confirmed ‘inquiries are ongoing’.
Meanwhile, vandals daubed the Falkirk Wheel with ‘hang the white man’ graffiti and ‘Black Lives Matter’.
Police Scotland said they had received a complaint about the incident yesterday.
The most high-profile incident was on Sunday when protesters in Bristol pulled down a statue to philanthropist and slave trader Edward Colston before dumping it in the harbour.
The Cenotaph in London and statues of Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela have been boarded up to protect them.
This week, a statue of Henry Dundas in Edinburgh was damaged by graffiti, while a monument to William of Orange in Glasgow’s Cathedral Square was vandalised twice with paint. An anti-police slogan was sprayed on it on Sunday.
Police are still guarding a number of the statues in Glasgow.