Bristol Black Lives Matter protesters toppled a statue of a slave trader – 14 smashing reactions
As the Black Lives Matter protests continued to build across the world, one group in Bristol decided to put an end to the ongoing debate about what the city should do about the statue of slave trader, Edward Colston.
Edward Colston statue pulled down by BLM protesters in Bristol. Colston was a 17th century slave trader who has numerous landmarks named after him in Bristol. #BlackLivesMattters #blmbristol #ukprotests pic.twitter.com/JEwk3qKJx2
— Jack Grey (@_jackgrey) June 7, 2020
If that seemed definitive, you should see what they did next.
#Bristol statue of Edward Colston has been pulled down and pushed into the harbour during the #BlackLivesMattter march pic.twitter.com/ME1yxAhw7G
— BBC Radio Bristol (@bbcrb) June 7, 2020
Some people weren’t happy about it.
Mob rule in Bristol, removing statue and throwing in river …. no police anywhere @pritipatel protecting property… will these thugs be arrested? pic.twitter.com/x5u9c7WS1o
— Richard Tice (@TiceRichard) June 7, 2020
Home Secretary Priti Patel says the toppling of a statue of slaver Edward Colston in Bristol is "utterly disgraceful" and 'undermines' anti-racism protests.
Follow live updates: https://t.co/mA24orfJu0 pic.twitter.com/3P9oft9uZH
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) June 7, 2020
There were more comments in the same vein …law and order …history …etc, etc.
There were also plenty of people who thought the protesters had a point.
1.
The people criticising the Colston statue removal are right – removing statues of people erases history. That's why everyone's completely forgotten about Hitler. Sorry, I should explain, Hitler was a genocidal dictator in Germany in the 30s and 40s… it's a long story.
— Benjamin Partridge (@benpartridge) June 7, 2020
2.
It’s utterly disgraceful that a statue to a slaver survived as long as it did. https://t.co/hj1uxTtJ8d
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) June 7, 2020
3.
nooooo the correct way to do this to debate it for 18 months and find a single black student to subject to an endless tirade of hate in every major national newspaper before leaving the statue up anyway https://t.co/7NUc1MBYcw
— Crowsa Luxemburg (@quendergeer) June 7, 2020
4.
If you're saying the statues should remain in place to help educate, at school I managed to learn long division without there being a fucking statue of it in the middle of a city
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) June 7, 2020
5.
If you’re more concerned about ‘vandalism’ than you are about black people having to walk past a daily reminder that their ancestors were owned as fucking property by the establishment of a country that continues to treat them like second class citizens, you’re a fucking prick.
— 🏳️🌈 Max 🏳️🌈 (@SpillerOfTea) June 7, 2020
6.
How you feel about that statue is how you feel about slavery. Don't let anyone pretend otherwise.
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) June 7, 2020
7.
No to the “statues of slave traders educate us about why slavery was bad” take. No they don’t. We have statues of people we venerate and celebrate. That’s why there are no statues of Hitler, that’s why there won’t be any of statues of Boris Johnson or the cat-bin lady or covid-19
— Erica Buist (@ericabuist) June 7, 2020
