Protesters in the UK are celebrating another small victory as a 19th-century statue of a slave trader has been removed following the pressure from the public to get rid of ‘racist’ monuments.
The monument depicting Robert Milligan, a slave dealer infamous for keeping hundreds of slaves at his sugar plantation, stood proud on the docks of West India Quay in London since it was sculpted in 1809 following Milligan’s death.
Now, however, the controversial monument has been removed by the officials thanks to the pressure from Black Lives Matter protesters who came up with a target list consisting of 60 “racist statues” that should be removed in their opinion.
Speaking of the decision to remove the statue of Milligan from the dock he once helped build, the current landowners, the Canal and River Trust, said:
“We recognize the wishes of the local community concerning the statue of Robert Milligan at London Docklands and are committed to working with London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the Museum of London Docklands and partners at Canary Wharf to organize its safe removal as soon as possible.
“The Trust stands with our waterside communities against racism. We promote equality, diversity and inclusion, using our canals to enrich the lives of all those alongside our waterways from every community.”
Shortly after the announcement, the statue has been removed whereas people were seen clapping and cheering on the occasion.
A similar scene took place days ago as the protesters have forcefully removed the statue of the notorious slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the water.
For years, the debate whether the controversial statue of the 17th-century slave trader located in Bristol, England, should be removed or not was in place. Now, amid racial justice protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the British protesters got the courage to remove the statue themselves with the use of force.
And so, the demonstrators tied ropes around the statue of Colston before pulling the monument down and stomping it.
According to the reports, some protesters also knelt on the neck area of the statue to mimic the act of former officer Derek Chauvin who has been charged with second-degree murder of George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for several minutes before the handcuffed man passed out and died.
After the Bristol protesters were done tramping over the slave trader’s statue, they hurled it into the harbor waters, therefore ending the need for the debate whether the statue should be removed or not.
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Replaced!