Activists list 60 statues they want gone next
‘Not worthy of glorification’
Activists have compiled a hit list of 60 ‘racist statues’ they want removed for ‘celebrating slavery’.
It comes as thousands of protesters surrounded an Oxford college last night demanding a monument to imperialist cecil Rhodes be torn down and vandals in Leeds targeted a memorial to Queen victoria, daubing the word ‘slave owner’ on the plinth even though she was crowned four years after the abolition of slavery.
the list includes memorials to West india Docks founder Robert Milligan at the Museum of London – which has since been removed – and the Edinburgh statue of former Home secretary Henry Dundas. Edinburgh city council leader Adam Mcvey told the BBC he would feel ‘no sense of loss’ if it was removed. Last night a Downing street spokesman issued an extraordinary statement urging police forces to make their own decisions about whether to intervene if protesters try to pull down further statues as race protests sparked by the death of George Floyd continue.
it comes amid a growing row after officers stood by while a statue of slave trader Edward colston was toppled in Bristol and a monument to sir Winston churchill was defaced in Parliament square at the weekend.
Labour councils across England and Wales will review the ‘appropriateness’ of monuments and statues in their towns and cities and London Mayor sadiq Khan said he will ‘review and improve’ London’s diversity of statues. thousands of protesters gathered last night on Oxford
High street kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the time Mr Floyd had a white police officer kneeling on his neck which led to his death in Minneapolis last month.
the crowd chanted ‘take it down’ as police stood guard at the college entrance. Organiser of the rally, Ndjodi Ndeunyema, an Oxford University law student and former Rhodes scholar whose education has been partially funded by a trust set up by the 19th century colonialist, said: ‘the statue remaining is an affront on the university’s support for movements such as Black Lives Matter. Rhodes is not worth of veneration or glorification because of the racism and subjugation he represents’.
Rhodes, a British imperialist and early architect of apartheid, was Prime Minister of the cape colony, modern day south Africa. He believed in white supremacy and has become a symbol of racism and oppression.
Yesterday Oxford city council’s leader susan Brown wrote to Oriel college inviting them to apply for planning permission to remove the statue after 26 councillors signed a letter saying it is ‘incompatible’ with the city’s ‘commitment to anti-racism’. college governors said the institution ‘abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms’ but did not commit to removing the statue.
Last night in London police formed a ring of steel around statues including sir Winston churchill as protesters organised by stand Up to Racism marked George Floyd’s funeral in Houston, texas.
they knelt for a minute’s silence before marching from the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament square to Downing street.