Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Tristan Cook & Brett Gibbons

New mystery figure replaces toppled Edward Colston statue - but it's not what people expected

A new figure has been placed next to the empty plinth of the controversial Edward Colston statue that was toppled during a protest.

The 'statue' has been chained to a lamppost in a spot facing the former site of the slave trader's monument in Bristol,which was pulled down by a crowd and pushed into the docks.

The new sculpture depicts a large bald man wearing a string vest and wedged into a wheelie bin, BristolLive reports.

In one hand he's holding a small globe, and in the other a mobile phone, with a text that reads 'England for the English'.

The statue of Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol harbour (PA)

On the wheelie bin are stencilled the words: "Spoiler alert: St George was Turkish."

A passer-by, who did not want to be named, said: "It's really striking, and quite poignant after the events of the weekend.

"There were lots of people stopping and looking and taking photos.

"It's clearly a response to the people who came out to guard the Cenotaph on the weekend, the artist doesn't seem to hold them in very high regard.

"There's a bit of a loutish look to it, with the man in his string vest looking at a phone that says 'England for the English'.

"It's quite clever. They're obviously telling anyone with that kind of belief to get in the bin," she added.

However, the claim on that wheelie bin that St George was Turkish is factually incorrect. While most historians agree the early 4th century Christian martyr St George was born and grew up in Cappadocia, which is in what today is modern Turkey.

George himself was a Cappadocian Greek, and not Turkish.

The Kingdom of Cappadocia was an independent kingdom until it was taken over by the Roman Empire in the 1st century, and St George would have regarded himself as either Greek or a Cappadocian Greek.

Turkish people did not migrate to the land until hundreds of years later, from the 6th to the 11th century, where they eventually formed the Ottoman Empire.

St George is the patron saint not just of England, but is also venerated in Catalonia and Aragon in Spain, Austria, Ethiopia and Georgia, which is named after him.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.