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The Edward Colston statue in Bristol. Ben Birchall via PA Images

UK police investigate after protesters throw statue of slave-trader MP into Bristol harbour

A crowd which had joined a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol tore down the statue of Edward Colston.

LAST UPDATE | 7 Jun 2020

UK POLICE HAVE launched an investigation after protesters in Bristol pulled down the controversial statue of a 17th Century slave trader and MP, Edward Colston.

The bronze memorial to Colston, situated in the city centre since 1895, was torn down after crowds left the city’s College Green and later was dumped into Bristol harbour.

It had been the subject of an 11,000-strong petition to have it removed.

Around 10,000 people in Bristol took part in the Black Lives Matter demonstration today, which was praised by Avon and Somerset police for being “peaceful and respectful”.

Images showed crowds rushing to stamp on the statue, which stood in Colston Avenue, before it was rolled along the road and pushed into the harbour.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has said that the toppling of the Colston statue is “utterly disgraceful”, and said that the police should ‘follow up’ on the incident.

No arrest were made, but officers are now said to be collating footage of a “small group of people” who were filmed pulling down the statue with ropes, which police say amounted to criminal damage.

Superintendent Andy Bennett said: “The vast majority of those who came to voice their concerns about racial inequality and injustice did so peacefully and respectfully.

“The ongoing coronavirus pandemic added a different dynamic to what was always going to be a challenging policing operation.”

He added: “However, there was a small group of people who clearly committed an act of criminal damage in pulling down a statue near Bristol Harbourside.”

Images showed crowds rushing to stamp on the statue, which stood in Colston Avenue, before it was rolled along the road and pushed into the harbour.

The bridge overlooking the spot where it was thrown into the water is named Pero’s Bridge, after Pero Jones – an enslaved man who lived and died in the city.

After the statue was pulled down, people laid placards on the ground and shouted “no justice, no peace” and “Black Lives Matter”.

Some climbed on top of the plinth to deliver speeches or say a prayer and were widely applauded by the crowd, with vehicles driving past sounding their horns in support.

Jasmine Boatswain, a graduate PE teacher, and her friends came to see where the statute had stood.

“I need to come here to see this statue come down,” she told the PA news agency.

To see it ripped down is difficult to put into words. It really embodies the whole movement.

“We are not taking it anymore. We are sick to the teeth of having to experience racism and see racism in our faces.

Even if you don’t know anything about Black Lives Matter, just looking at this is such a powerful thing. 

black-lives-matter-protests Ben Birchall via PA Images Ben Birchall via PA Images

Earlier, protester John McAllister, aged 71, told the PA news agency: “It says ‘erected by the citizens of Bristol, as a memorial to one of the most virtuous and wise sons of this city’.

The man was a slave trader. He was generous to Bristol but it was off the back of slavery and it’s absolutely despicable. It’s an insult to the people of Bristol.

According to Historic England, the statue was sculpted by John Cassidy, of Manchester, with an inscription that read “erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city AD 1895”.

Colston’s involvement in the slave trade through the British-based Royal African Company was the source of much of the money which he bestowed in Bristol, the website added.

The statue was one of a number of landmarks in Bristol to take Colston’s name, although the nearby music venue Colston Hall will be renamed this year as part of a major refurbishment. 

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    Mute Toon Army
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    Jul 21st 2018, 7:42 AM

    Well at least the gangs can read about what the gardai intelligence is and what they believe the gangs next steps will be. Maybe the Journal could also provide a map detailing where exactly the new check points will be?

    230
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    Mute ParSim
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    Jul 21st 2018, 9:01 AM

    @Toon Army: Do you think the gangs don’t know this already?

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    Mute DaisyMay
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    Jul 21st 2018, 6:45 AM

    The cost of policing these gangs must be extraordinary. We need to decriminalize drug users and slap a mandatory twenty years on drug sellers

    160
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    Mute Nameless and shameless
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    Jul 21st 2018, 6:50 AM

    @DaisyMay: I know but these drug dealers had a rough up bringing and they won’t get the tender love and care they are entitled to in prison. With the right programmes they can become outstanding members of a community.

    145
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    Mute DaisyMay
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    Jul 21st 2018, 6:55 AM

    @Nameless and shameless: maybe some hard labor and forced education might help

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    Mute john doe
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    Jul 21st 2018, 9:14 AM

    @DaisyMay: how would your suggestion reduce the cost of policing these criminals? The only way to do that is legalisation and regulation.

    Decriminalisation would only reduce the cost of policing users, which in itself would also be worthwhile.

    For what it’s worth neither MDMA or ketamine are very harmful in their pure form. The problem is these gangsters cutting them with god knows what to increase their profits. Again regulation would solve that greatly reducing potential for harms to the public who use these drugs.

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    Mute Gareth Cooney
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    Jul 21st 2018, 10:14 AM

    @DaisyMay: How does that work? Legal to buy but illegal to sell?
    The cost of policing the scangers remains the same in face of drugs are legal to take then they become more in demand by 1.5 times.

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    Mute Ronan O' Grady
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    Jul 21st 2018, 1:20 PM

    @Nameless and shameless: thats absolutely hilarious

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    Mute Gus Sheridan
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    Jul 21st 2018, 2:47 PM

    @Nameless and shameless: in that case execute them, problem solved

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    Mute Karl
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    Jul 22nd 2018, 11:30 AM

    @DaisyMay: how would that change anything other than increase their customer base?

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    Mute Joe Jackson
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    Jul 21st 2018, 8:22 AM

    Let them at it… Natural cull

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    Mute Noel_Random
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    Jul 21st 2018, 6:57 AM

    Oh my goodness. But is it a north Dublin or a south Dublin issue? I can’t quite tell from the document above. (Obviously, there’s no east or west in Dublin.)

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    Mute DaisyMay
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    Jul 21st 2018, 7:10 AM

    @Noel_Random: it’s a north Dublin issue. What an odd comment. Where would you say finglas, coolock and ballymun are?

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    Mute SC
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    Jul 21st 2018, 8:57 AM

    It seems like the Gardai know who all the criminals are. Why don’t they put them on trial? They’re harming their own community.

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    Mute john doe
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    Jul 21st 2018, 9:18 AM

    @SC: put them on trial with no proof would be a waste of money. The gards seem like they know but They only report what they are told and it can be considerably wrong.

    People selling booze and taking bets in bookies are also potentially harming the community, should they go on trial too?

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    Mute Ronan O' Grady
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    Jul 21st 2018, 1:24 PM

    @SC: evidence and proof.. with the help of people to stand up in court and say ” it was him” hard thing to do…The Guards must be so frustrated… Their doing a great job while under resourced.

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    Mute Martin Lintzgy
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    Jul 21st 2018, 9:27 AM

    Its such a pity that crimanls are not locked up. Inteead, Tthey are free to go about thier nefarious buisness. If they are ccaught, there is always the broken home sob story, (no doubt perpetuated on their own kids), so snowflake sentencing.
    Tthe me, the purpose locking up these lowlifes is not too punish then, not to edducate and rehabilitate them…
    It it to protect honest hard working people.

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    Mute matt curran
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    Jul 21st 2018, 11:48 AM

    Whats the big problem …just let them at it, one way to get rid of them….

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    Mute John Ryan
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    Jul 21st 2018, 11:39 AM

    Can’t the same laws used to tackle terrorism be used against the gangs mainly having them declared illegal organizations with membership carrying long prison sentences.

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    Mute GerryCummins
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    Jul 21st 2018, 9:46 PM

    Conscription! dont do school/college..straight to the Army/Navy/Aer Corp. That would sort a few of them !

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    Mute Karl
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    Jul 22nd 2018, 11:32 AM

    @GerryCummins: yep, really looking forward to all those new criminals getting professional military training.

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    Jul 22nd 2018, 1:36 PM

    These guys get the best police protection in the state. The amount of resources & overtime put into this is absolutely ridiculous.

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