An activist cleared after toppling the monument of Bristol slaver Edward Colston insisted the verdict was not “a green light for everyone to start pulling down statues”.
Rhian Graham, 30, said: “This moment is about this statue in this city in this time.
“I will leave the fate of monuments in other cities to the citizens of those cities.”
She was one of four protesters cleared of criminal damage after Colston was pulled down and dumped in Bristol harbour during a 2020 Black Lives Matter demo.
Graham, the half-sister of singer Rag’n’Bone Man, told ITV ’s Good Morning Britain: “I have never felt like a criminal. I’m just thankful for the result.
“I really don’t think this is a green light for everyone to just start pulling down statues.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Destroying public property can never be acceptable.”
The new Crime and Sentencing Bill will let courts consider the “emotional or wider distress” of vandalising public property.
The current maximum jail for damage under £5,000 is three months.
The Bill aims to raise it to 10 years, regardless of value, to cover such things as wreaths at memorials.
