A group of men attempted to retrieve Edward Colston's statue from the bottom of the floating harbour.
Black Lives Matter protesters pulled down the 17th century slave trader's monument at around 2.30pm on June 7, before tipping it into the River Avon.
The following day, pictures emerged of men appearing to use a pole in a bid to get the bronze figure out of the water.
Some 400,000 people have 'liked' or retweeted the images on Twitter.
Two men, both wearing socks but no shoes, could be seen climbing down the wall of the river-bank.
The shirtless men took turns plunging the metal pole into the Avon, before giving up.
In a comment liked 30,000 times, one woman wrote on Twitter: "And all that he could see see see was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea!"
The statue remains in the floating harbour.
Bristol City Council is yet to confirm what it plans to do with the memorial.
It comes after police urged anyone directly involved in the toppling and dumping of the statue to come forward "before a media appeal becomes necessary".
Avon and Somerset police say they have gathered "a large amount" of footage showing the incident in the city centre.
Officers investigating the damage have identified 17 suspects.
Superintendent Andy Bennett told Bristol Live: “I suspect we might ask some people to voluntarily attend and talk in a police station, but we haven’t got that far.
“Police cannot choose which laws to enforce. The statue kind of belongs to the people, but really it belongs to [Bristol City Council].
“The council is the victim of this piece of damage. In order to take a case to court, you need a victim, so we need to have a mature conversation with the council."
We have asked Bristol City Council if it will support prosecution of those involved.
The authority says it will issue a statement tomorrow explaining "next steps".
