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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Josh Halliday (later) and Martin Belam (earlier)

UK protests: statue of 18th-century slave owner Robert Milligan taken down in London — as it happened

Robert Milligan statue in London taken down

A statue of 18th-century slave owner Robert Milligan has been removed from its place in London’s docklands. The Canal and River Trust earlier said it was working with local authorities and a local museum to organise its safe removal.

Updated

Summary

As the protest in Oxford continues, here’s a summary of the day’s developments on the UK anti-racism demonstrations.

  • About 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Oxford to peacefully demand the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, a 19th century imperialist who critics say is steeped in colonialism and racism. Protesters sat in silence for several minutes before chanting “decolonise” at Oxford University, whose building the statue adorns. Organisers have announced a Black Lives Matter protest in the city on Saturday.
  • Students of the Oxford University college at the centre of the Rhodes protest said the institution’s silence was “equal to complicity in the perpetuation of white privilege and supremacy”. Undergraduates at Oriel College said the university had “failed to address its own issues of racial inequality and history of colonialism”.
  • The leader of Oxford city council wrote to Oxford University inviting it to apply for planning permission to remove the statue. The college, which has resisted pressure to remove the statue for years, said it opposes racism and discrimination in all its forms and that it was committed to “debate and discuss” the issues raised by the monument.
  • Dozens of people descended on Parliament Square to pay their respects to George Floyd, who was killed by a US police officer and whose funeral took place in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday night. About 50 people then marched to Downing Street, some carrying “Black Lives Matter” signs, and chanted “we want Boris” and “justice for Windrush”.
  • All Labour councils in England and Wales – including London and Manchester – vowed to review their statues and public monuments amid rising concern about the celebration of historical industrialists with links to the slave trade. The effect of the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol on Sunday rippled across the country, with hundreds of local authorities now expected to consider renaming public monuments.
  • The Museum for London said it was working with partners to remove the statue of 18th century slave owner Robert Milligan. The monument has become a focus of protest since it was targeted at the weekend.
  • A statue of King Leopold II in Belgium was taken down after being vandalised and set on fire by protesters. The bust of the brutal colonialist is now expected to be retired to a museum in Antwerp.

Updated

Organisers of the Oxford rally have announced a Black Lives Matter protest in the city on Saturday.

The killing of George Floyd has triggered a wave of activism around the world. It has seen the historic removal of statues – by force, at first, then by persuasion – and continued in waves from Minneapolis across Europe to Australia, New Zealand and remote islands inbetween.

Take a look at this short film on an extraordinary fortnight in the fight for racial equality.

Updated

The Museum for London has confirmed it is working with partners to remove the statue of 18th century slave owner Robert Milligan, which we reported on earlier.

It says:

Updated

At the Cecil Rhodes rally, a speaker who introduced himself as one of seven black professors at Oxford University – to huge cheers and applause from the crowd – has said the phrase “black lives matter” resonated because of “a history of white supremacy that has denigrated, exploited and subjugated black lives”.

He said the campaign group Rhodes Must Fall, which he joined in 2015, had been started by student activists in South Africa who were “tired of colonial iconography, tired of white supremacy in our curriculums, tired of the crisis of representation of black and other minority ethnic people in our institutions”.

Another speaker, from Oxford city council, repeated its invitation to the university to apply for planning permission to remove the Rhodes statue:

Labour MPs take the knee outside the Houses of Parliament in solidarity with anti-racism protestors:

The campaign group Rhodes Must Fall, which is leading the protest against the Cecil Rhodes statue, is calling on Oxford’s Oriel College to make an “official, public and permanent acknowledgement of the colonial violence upon which [the college] is built” and to establish a “reparatory scholarship scheme for southern Africans of African descent” to begin next year. See its other demands below:

Updated

Neil Misra, vice-president of Oxford Student Union for graduates, said such a “racist and imperialist symbol” as the Cecil Rhodes statue “has no place on the front facade of Oriel College”.

He added: “The statue is an affront to our students of colour and our university community.”

Misra said he has put forward a motion to the graduate study body which endorses the removal of the statue:

It is essential that we as students make it explicitly clear to the college that we find the continued displaying of the statue on the college’s facade inappropriate and repugnant. Moreover, it is our duty to push the college to accept the council’s invitation at the earliest possible juncture.

Updated

Ndjodi Ndeunyema, one of the Oxford protest organisers, told the crowd of about 1,000 people they were showing “solidarity with humanity”. He said:

We are here to shame the college that seeks to venerate and glorify someone who is not worthy of glorification or veneration. We demand an official and public acknowledgement of the colonial violence on which Oriel is built. We demand the immediate removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes.

Addressing the university, Ndeunyema added: “People will constantly remind you of your shameful history that you refuse to confront.”

Oxford’s high street has been brought to a standstill by the rally to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes. Mounted police are at the scene but the protest has been wholly peaceful, with demonstrators sitting for several minutes in silence before directing chants at Oxford University.

Supporters of the Rhodes Must Fall group participate in a protest calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes
Supporters of the Rhodes Must Fall group participate in a protest calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
Supporters of the Rhodes Must Fall group participate in a protest calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes
The protests have been wholly peaceful. Photograph: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

The geology society at Imperial College in London is to change its name following complaints it honoured a slave owner.

The De La Beche Society is named after Henry De La Beche, a geologist and palaeontologist who contributed to the founding of the Royal School of Mines but also ran a slave plantation.

“The society has decided to distance itself from De La Beche’s legacy as slaveowner and to temporarily change its name to Imperial College Geology Society,” the Imperial College Union said in a statement. A public consultation will be run to gather ideas for a new permanent name.

Updated

My intrepid colleague Archie Bland has been on the trail of the sculpture of a black man with exaggerated features that was taken down by locals in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, last night following a huge petition to remove the “racist” bust.

The wooden sculpture is being kept in “a secret location” – which may or may not be a Conservative councillor’s garage – for safe-keeping while the council decides what to do with it. You can read Archie’s story here.

In London, racial justice protesters have marched from Nelson Mandela’s statue in Parliament Square to Downing Street.

Around 50 activists, some carrying “Black Lives Matter” signs, chanted “we want Boris” and “justice for Windrush” at the gates to Number 10, reports PA Media.

They had gathered at 5pm to observe a minute’s silence on their knees in memory of George Floyd, who died in the US on 25 May.

Demonstrators hold placards during a Stand up to Racism protest outside of Downing Street on 9 June 2020
Demonstrators hold placards during a Stand up to Racism protest outside of Downing Street on 9 June 2020. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

“We will beg no more. We will beg no more. We want it down. We are not asking, we’re telling you that this does not represent Oxford. We are an anti-racist city and we want it down!”

Protestors are chanting “decolonise” at Oxford university in front of the Cecil Rhodes statue.

All Labour councils in England and Wales to review statues and monuments

Labour councils across England and Wales will begin reviewing monuments and statues in their towns and cities following the tearing down of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol.

The Local Government Association’s (LGA) Labour group announced on Tuesday it has asked Labour council leaders to work with their communities to review “the appropriateness” of monuments and statues in their areas. It tweeted:

The University of Liverpool has agreed to rename one of its halls of residence after a group of students called on it to remove former prime minister William Gladstone’s name due to “his views on slavery”.

The issue first reared its head in 2017 when students pointed out that Gladstone’s father, the merchant John Gladstone, was one of the biggest slaveholders in the West Indies, owning more than 2,500 at the time of the abolition of slavery.

In a statement on Tuesday, the university said it wanted to send a clear message to its black, Asian and minority ethnic students and staff that it would work with them to “agree an appropriate alternative name for the hall.”.

Updated

The Oxford protestors have sat down in the middle of the high street for a moment of silence:

Hundreds of protestors gather in Oxford

Hundreds of protestors have gathered outside Oriel College in Oxford to demand the removal of a statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes, my colleague Aamna Mohdin reports.

This picture by Enda Brady, the Sky News reporter, shows the mass of demonstrators, some carrying placards saying “No justice, no peace” and “End racism now”.

Updated

One slight hiccup with the possible removal of the Robert Milligan statue on London’s West India Quay: it appears the removal truck is too heavy for the dock.

Femi Nylander, an organiser for Rhodes Must Fall, welcomed the support the campaign had received from the local council, MP and the thousands who signed the petition to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes.

He said: “It’s good to see public consciousness is changing. We are seeing a paradigm shift. You can see that everywhere.” He added that he hopes today’s protest will see the resurgence of the Rhodes Must Fall movement in Oxford.

Ndjodi Ndeunyema, 30, a PhD student, said:

We reject this narrative that Cecil Rhodes is a complicated character. No, he is a genocidaire, he is someone who planned an assault on Africa and he is not worthy of exaltation, he does not deserve to be on a high street looking down on us. That history will never be erased, it’s a lived reality for people in Southern Africa, but it needs to be contextualised, it needs to be accurately represented and not glorified in the way it is today.

He added that this protest goes much further than calling for the removal of the statue, it’s also about meaningful equality:

For the black community, given the moment we are in, but also people of colour and people on the social and economic fringes of any society.

He called for justice for the Windrush generation, describing the scandal as as “substantive policy manifestation of anti-blackness”.

Updated

Just a reminder on the position of Oriel college, the Oxford university institution facing protests tonight.

In a statement earlier today (see 2.12pm update), the college said it “abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms”.

The university has previously refused to remove the Cecil Rhodes statue but said it could be modified to “draw attention to this history [and] do justice to the complexity of the debate”.

It said on Tuesday that it would “continue to debate and discuss the issues raised by the presence on our site of examples of contested heritage relating to Cecil Rhodes”.

Oxford students condemn university's 'silence' on Cecil Rhodes

Students of the Oxford University college at the centre of the Cecil Rhodes statue protest have said the institution’s silence was “equal to complicity in the perpetuation of white privilege and supremacy”.

A protest against the statue of the 19th century imperialist is getting underway right now as one of several demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd in US police custody.

Oriel College, where the monument is based, has for years resisted pressure to remove it despite repeated campaigns.

In a statement, Oriel undergraduates said Oxford University had “failed to address its own issues of racial inequality and history of colonialism”. They add:

Oriel College must not be blind to its legacy of colonialism and racism in association with Cecil Rhodes. Despite claims that clear historical context about the Cecil Rhodes statue would be provided in order to acknowledge and educate our students on the imperialist past, the subject remains taboo and Oriel’s continuing silence [is] equal to complicity in the perpetuation of white privilege and supremacy. Our JCR [junior common room] pledges to educate each incoming year on the legacy of Cecil Rhodes and support black students by openly challenging racial discrimination.

Updated

A public square in Plymouth named after the 16th-century slave trader Sir John Hawkins is to be renamed, the city council has said.

The council said: “We have already removed the signs on the square and will start the renaming process, which involves an opportunity for people to give their views. We are doing this because we have listened to views and recognise it causes particular offence due to Hawkins’ close involvement in the slave trade.”

However, it does not intend to remove the statue of Sir Francis Drake from The Hoe despite his role in the slave trade.

The council said: “We will continue to acknowledge the important role Drake played in this nation’s history, as well as in the history and development of Plymouth, while always also acknowledging that he was involved in privateering and the terrible practice of trading slaves.

“Rather than remove the statue we feel we have a duty to tell the full story of what he did and use this to help remember those who suffered as a result of the slave trade.”

Updated

Manchester city council vows to review all statues

Manchester has taken a leaf out of London’s book and said it will review all of its statues following the toppling of the Edward Colston monument in Bristol.

Councillor Luthfur Rahman said it was important “that we do not shy away from the darker moments in our country’s history and the difficult conversations attached to them”.

He said he hoped the city-wide review would “be an opportunity for education and debate around those who have been memorialised” and added:

The weight of emotion around the symbolism attached to public statues has been palpable this week – and not without good reason. However, it’s also true to say that most of us do not know the people represented in the city’s statues, nor the history as to why they were chosen.

We also want to take this opportunity to ask the public who is missing – who should be celebrated but is not – with particular thought around representing the proud BAME history of Manchester and help to reflect the shared story of our diverse and multicultural city.

Updated

People are gathering in Parliament Square in London to commemorate the life of George Floyd at 5pm, the time when his body will be laid to rest in Houston, Texas, where he grew up.

In the capital, police officers were pictured protecting the Winston Churchill statue that was defaced on Sunday, while a growing number of people gathered to pay tribute to Floyd.

These pictures are just in from the Reuters photographer Toby Melville:

Police form up around the Sir Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, London, ahead of a rally at the Nelson Mandela statue in the square to commemorate George Floyd
Police form up around the Sir Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, London, ahead of a rally at the Nelson Mandela statue in the square to commemorate George Floyd. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
A Black Lives Matter protest in Parliament Square by the Winston Churchill statue in Westminster
A Black Lives Matter protest in Parliament Square by the Winston Churchill statue in Westminster. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
Demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest in Parliament Square
Demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest in Parliament Square. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated

Senior Labour figures kneel with anti-racism protestors

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and deputy leader, Angela Rayner, have been photographed kneeling in solidarity with anti-racism protesters. Posting the image on Twitter, Starmer wrote: “We kneel with all those opposing anti-Black racism. BlackLivesMatter.”

Updated

My colleague Aamna Mohdin is on the ground for us in Oxford and will be reporting live when the protest against the Cecil Rhodes statue gets under way at 5pm. She has just sent me the below:

There is a significant police presence at Oxford’s Rhodes Must Fall campaign that was called after the dramatic toppling of a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston at a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol.

As well as several police vans, there are six police officers on horses at the protest that is expected to start in less than an hour.

Oxford before the protest against Cecil Rhodes statue
Oxford before the protest against Cecil Rhodes statue. Photograph: Aamna Mohdin for the Guardian

Updated

King Leopold of Belgium has become the latest historical figure whose statue has been toppled by the rising tide of public anger.

Officials in the Belgian city of Antwerp removed Leopold II’s monument on Tuesday morning, days after it was vandalised and set on fire during protests over the killing of George Floyd.

A statue of King Leopold II of Belgium is pictured on June 4 in Antwerp after being set on fire
A statue of King Leopold II of Belgium is pictured on June 4 in Antwerp after being set on fire. Photograph: Jonas Roosens/Belga/AFP/Getty Images

Leopold II, who was king of Belgium from 1865 until his death in 1909, was known for widespread atrocities against colonial subjects and his brutal rule over the Congo, where his forced labour system is estimated to have cost around 10 million lives.

A spokesman for the Antwerp mayor, Bart De Wever, told the Brussels Times the statue would be “temporarily housed in the sculpture collection of the Middelheim museum, where it will be restored”. The spokesman said it would probably stay in the museum permanently.

Another Leopold II bust in Ghent has been splashed in red paint and marked “I can’t breathe,” the final words of George Floyd.

Updated

As protests spread across the UK, a petition has been launched in Dunoon, a small town on the Cowal peninsula, on the west coast of Scotland, to remove a notorious local fixture known as the “Jim Crow rock”, which is painted to depict a stereotypical blackface.

The petition, which describes the rock as “blatantly racist and offensive”, has gathered thousands of signatures and the local MSP, Mike Russell, has stepped in to reassure locals that the rock – which was painted over with the acronym BLM at the weekend – will be “dealt with in a way that unites the town”.

Russell confirmed there is a competition under way for local schoolchildren to come up with a new design for the rock, as well as a commitment to create a plaque or noticeboard near the rock which can explain its history and the decision to change it now.

As the writer Layla-Roxanne Hill says: “As a black and mixed-race person raised in Dunoon, my uneasiness with the Jim Crow rock grew as I did. When I came to understand what Jim Crow was, I felt too wee and powerless to be able to voice my feelings and ask for change, never mind make change.”

Updated

The Labour MP Clive Lewis has said it would be a “waste of police time” to prosecute the protesters who pulled down the Edward Colston statue.

Appearing on BBC Radio 5 live’s Emma Barnett show, the former Labour leadership contender said the police had “better things to be getting on with” than tackling the Bristol demonstrators:

He said:

I personally think that there are more important things to be getting on with. So no, I don’t think they should. I think it would be a waste of police time if I’m quite frank. Given that most people in this country, now knowing what the individual whose statue was pulled down represents, I don’t think it’s a good use of police resources personally.

Most of them were law-abiding citizens who basically said that this statue is an affront to millions of people who died during the slave trade and to the millions of black people who have contributed so much to this country who have to walk past this statue every day and know of its existence.

Updated

Robert Milligan statue could be taken down 'as soon as possible'

A statue of the 18th century Scottish merchant and slave owner Robert Milligan could soon be removed from London’s Docklands amid growing concern about the celebration of controversial British industrialists.

The Canal and River Trust has said it is committed to working with Tower Hamlets council and other partners “to organise its safe removal as soon as possible”:

Milligan was the driving force behind the construction of London’s West India Docks. He is estimated to have enslaved more than 500 people on his family’s sugar plantations in Jamaica.

A statue of Milligan was unveiled four years after his death, in 1809, and currently stands in front of the Museum of London Docklands.

Local councillors have called for the monument to be removed permanently. Labour councillor Ehtasham Haque described the Canal and River Trust statement as “excellent news”, having earlier called the statue an “insult to humanity”.

Updated

Oxford city council invites university to remove Cecil Rhodes statue

Ahead of the Cecil Rhodes demonstration in Oxford later, the leader of the city council has written to Oxford University to invite it to apply for planning permission to remove the controversial statue.

Susan Brown, a Labour councillor, said the monument would be better placed in a museum and that her views are shared by the majority of the city’s councillors.

She added:

I have today written to Oriel College to invite them to apply for planning permission to remove the statue, as it is a Grade II* listed building. Typically such actions are only allowed in the most exceptional of circumstances.

But these are exceptional circumstances, and as a city council we are keen to work with Oriel to help them find the right balance between the laws that protect our historic buildings and the moral obligation to reflect on the malign symbolism of this statue.

Updated

The Oxford University college at the centre of today’s planned protest over its Cecil Rhodes statue has said it “abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms”.

In a statement, Oriel College said it would “continue to debate and discuss the issues raised by the presence on our site of examples of contested heritage relating to Cecil Rhodes”. Its full statement is below.

The university has previously insisted that the statue would stay, with modifications that “draw attention to this history [and] do justice to the complexity of the debate”.

At 5pm, protesters are expected to gather in front of the Rhodes statue where a list of demands from the campaign group Rhodes Must Fall will be read out, including addressing underrepresentation and lack of welfare provision for black and minority ethnic students and staff.

Oriel College email
Oriel College email Photograph: Oriel College email

Updated

The leader of Edinburgh city council has said he would feel “no sense of loss” if a statue of Henry Dundas, a politician who delayed the abolition of slavery, was removed.

Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, frustrated efforts to end the slave trade by using his influence as home secretary, setting the move back 15 years.

Sir Geoff Palmer, an emeritus professor of Heriot-Watt University who has campaigned for years for a new plaque on the sculpture, estimates that Dundas “caused the enslavement of about 630,000 Africans; and as war secretary lost about 40,000 British troops in Haiti fighting a pro-slavery war.”

Statue on the top of the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland
Statue on the top of the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland Photograph: Mike Rex/Alamy

A 150ft column with a statue of the politician – known as the Melville Monument – stands in Edinburgh’s St Andrew Square and was vandalised during the Black Lives Matter protest in the Scottish capital on Sunday.

The council leader, Adam McVey, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme today:

I would have absolutely no sense of loss if the Dundas statue was removed and replaced with something else or left as a plinth.

I think it’s important to tell our story as a city, I think it’s important that that’s reflective, that’s representative of what actually happened – not what we might have wanted to happen – and I think we take that conversation from there.

Updated

A senior Tory city councillor in Bristol has described slave trader Edward Colston as a “hero” and condemned the toppling of his statue as “frenzied thug violence”.

The councillor, Richard Eddy, was formerly the Conservative leader on Bristol city council and is no stranger to controversy.

In 2001, he resigned as deputy leader of the city’s Conservative group after he began to use a golliwog doll as a mascot. He reportedly got into trouble soon after when he said the council should hire “more attractive lesbians”.

True to form, Eddy has now let rip on Colston. He’s been quoted by BristolLive as saying:

I am horrified and appalled by the rank lawlessness which was exposed in Bristol on Sunday when the famous statue of Edward Colston was attacked and vandalised by a criminal mob.

Edward Colston to me and generations of Bristolians stands out as a hero whose wealth has continued to benefit the housing, education and healthcare of the citizens of this city.

Since this frenzied thug violence on Sunday, I have received a stream of outraged responses from constituents and others – more than I’ve even received in such a short time in my 28-year council service.

Eddy said he was equally outraged “by the feeble comments, effectively condoning violence” of Bristol’s mayor, Marvin Rees, and the “pathetic hand-wringing” of senior Avon & Somerset police officers.

Updated

Britain 'much, much less racist' than it was, says PM, while stressing there is 'much more' to do

My colleague Andrew Sparrow has been at the Downing Street lobby briefing for journalists in Westminster. He says it was striking that Boris Johnson used cabinet this morning to reset his response to the Black Lives Matter protests, reinforcing the message he conveyed in a video message last night.

In a tweet on Sunday night, after BLM protesters tore down the Edward Colston statue in Bristol and a minority of BLM protesters in London got involved in clashes with the police, Johnson posted this on Twitter.

Boris Johnson #StayAlert✔@BorisJohnson

People have a right to protest peacefully & while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police. These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery - and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account.

125K9:13 PM - Jun 7, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy

41.2K people are talking about this

Since then No 10 has recalibrated its response, and the prime minister’s spokesman gave this account of what was said in cabinet this morning. The spokesman said:

The PM began cabinet by discussing the anger and the grief felt not just in the US but around the world following the death of George Floyd. He said those who lead and govern simply cannot ignore the depth of emotion that has been triggered.

He said there was an undeniable feeling of injustice and that people from black and minority ethnic groups do face discrimination, in education, in employment and in the application of criminal law.

He said we are a much, much less racist society than we were, but we must also frankly acknowledge that there is so much more to do in eradicating prejudice and creating opportunity. Cabinet reiterated its commitment to that effort.

The PM said his message to all those who protested lawfully was ‘I hear you and I understand’. However, he said this cause is not an acceptable [reason] for violence or [relaxing the rules] regarding to social distancing. He said those who attack public property or the police are undermining the cause they claim to represent and will face the full force of the law.

This also suggests that No 10 has now crafted what it views as a better response to the question ‘Is Britain racist?’. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was asked this on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday at the weekend and he said that it wasn’t, although he said there was still injustice that needed to be tackled. At the No 10 lobby briefing yesterday, in response to the same question, the spokesman said that Johnson did not think the UK was a racist country. Now the line is that the UK is “much, much less racist” than it was.

At today’s briefing the spokesman was also asked if Johnson felt that any of his various racially offensive comments in the past had contributed to the UK’s problems in this regard. The spokesman refused to engage, just saying that Johnson had addressed these questions during the election campaign.

Back in the House of Commons, the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has said peaceful protest is “one of the hallmarks of a mature democracy” but criminal conduct must never be accepted as a “legitimate tool of protest”.

In quotes reported by PA Media, Buckland said:

The death of George Floyd in the United States and the protests that have been taking place across the globe are stark reminders that we live in a world where prejudice sadly and unacceptably continues to play a role.

We all have a duty to stand up to racism wherever we see it and I’m more determined than ever to work with our justice partners and the BAME community to address racial disparity in our justice system.

The right to peaceful protest is one of the hallmarks of a mature democracy like ours, but under the rule of law. The rule of law which is the guarantor of equality before the law and we must never accept violence or criminal conduct as a legitimate tool of protest.”

Updated

Bansky has posted a picture suggesting what could happen to the empty plinth in the city that had housed the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

He wrote on Instagram: “Here’s an idea that caters for both those who miss the Colston statue and those who don’t. We drag him out the water, put him back on the plinth, tie cable round his neck and commission some life size bronze statues of protestors in the act of pulling him down. Everyone happy. A famous day commemorated.”

Updated

The concern about controversial statues is not limited to the metropolitan cities of London, Bristol and Oxford.

A quaint Derbyshire market town is grappling with its own moral dilemma following a mass petition to remove a black caricature head from a pub sign where locals claim it has stood for at least 300 years.

The figurine in Ashbourne depicts a black head in the style of a golliwog, the 19th-century dolls now widely seen as racist.

More than 42,000 people have signed an online petition (set up by a local resident) to get the head removed, saying “this kind of disgusting racist imagery has NO place in 2020 and should have been removed many many years ago”.

The black figurine in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, before it was removed on Monday night
The black figurine in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, before it was removed on Monday night Photograph: PA

And on Monday night a group of Ashbourne residents took it upon themselves to take it down. About 150 locals gathered outside the Green Man pub with ladders as the head was removed.

Derbyshire Dales district council said today it did not object to the figurine being removed “temporarily” and said the group had decided to “remove the figure themselves for safe keeping and, not wanting to create a confrontation”. The council said it expected to have the head in its possession later today, when it will then decide what to do with it.

Updated

NHS trusts hold minute's silence in solidarity against racism

A number of NHS trusts, which are responsible for hospitals and GPs’ practices, are holding a minute’s silence at midday in solidarity against racism:

The General Medical Council, the independent regulator for doctors, is also holding a moment of remembrance of George Floyd:

Updated

It turns out the justice questions in the Commons didn’t touch on the Black Lives Matter protests.

David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, pressed the justice minister Lucy Frazer on the issue of children in young offender institutions across the UK.

Lammy said one third of all children on youth justice estates were on remand without a sentence, and a proportion of those will not receive a custodial sentence when they eventually appear before a judge.

He said there were issues with young people not being allowed adequate time out of their cells due to Covid-19. Frazer responded by saying custody was a last resort and that young people should have 12 to 14 hours out of their cells every day.

We’ll return to justice questions if the Black Lives Matter protests are discussed.

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, says George Floyd’s death must be a “catalyst for change” and that his party stands with those opposing racism and oppression.

And fellow Labour MP Rachael Maskell tweeted:

Updated

The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, will soon be taking questions in the House of Commons. He’s likely to repeat the stance set out yesterday by the home secretary, Priti Patel, vowing that a minority of protesters would “face justice” for their “thuggery”.

As Jack Blanchard pointed out in today’s Politico London Playbook, Buckland’s opposite number, the shadow justice secretary, David Lammy, is one of parliament’s most powerful voices on race issues so today’s hearing should be worth watching.

We’ll bring you updates live.

Updated

Parliament holds minute's silence for George Floyd

Parliament has just held a minute’s silence in memory of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of a police officer in Minnesota triggered a wave of demonstrations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Four Commons select committees were sitting at 11am when they all fell silent.

Some MPs have tweeted about the minute’s silence:

Updated

Hello. This is Josh Halliday taking over from Martin. Stay with us for all the day’s developments on the UK Black Lives Matter protests. And feel free to get in touch with tips or suggestions. I’m on:

Twitter: @JoshHalliday (DMs open)

Email: josh.halliday@theguardian.com

Updated

The last time Oriel College was under pressure to remove the Cecil Rhodes statue, they sought the opinions of former students. Some of those former students are now very much rallying around the idea that the statue must go.

A form is being circulated online for alumni to add their names to an open letter. Appealing for leaders at the college to think of the long-term impact on the institution, in part it reads:

We would be ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with a college that let the statue of Cecil Rhodes remain standing on its grounds. The Oriel students and alumni campaigning for the removal of the statue back in 2016 and today are the donors of tomorrow. The momentum is well and truly behind removing the statue. Every year it is still there, more and more alumni will think twice about making a donation; more and more students will refuse to be associated with an institution that is so out-of-step with their own beliefs.

Oriel can, and should be, a pioneer in healing the scars of Imperialism, and beginning the process of reconciliation this country so obviously needs. Oriel’s future depends on what you do next. We urge you to be on the right side of history this time.

One common refrain you will have heard from politicians after the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol is that those who object to monuments that glorify colonial figures should use proper democratic channels to achieve change, rather than direct action.

Protesters in Bristol, however, will tell you that they had been trying to use the proper channels for years, without success.

With the focus today switching to the planned demonstration against the Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel college, Oxford, it is worth reminding ourselves that this is also a long-standing campaign for change.

If you want some more background on it, in 2016 we published a long read by Amit Chaudhuri looking at “The real meaning of Rhodes Must Fall”, and discussing the origins of the movement in South Africa.

Most of the controversy generated by the movement has revolved around the figure of Cecil Rhodes – but Rhodes himself is not really central to its aims. What is at issue is an ethos that gives space and even preeminence to such a figure, and hesitates to interrogate Rhodes’s legacy. That legacy does not merely include Rhodes’s financial bequests and their educational offshoots, like the Rhodes scholarships, but the vision embodied in his will, which called for: “the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise.

You can read it in full here:

Updated

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu was on Good Morning Britain this morning – put up against Nigel Farage to talk about racism and statues. She is definitely not mincing her words here in this tweet. It’s worth watching the segment as well.

Updated

Another former student at Oriel has just posted on social media in support of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign. Doug Buist, who is chair of the Lambeth Liberal Democrats and who works at The Globe theatre, has publish a letter he has written to the provost of Oriel college. He says that he “didn’t speak out a few years back when asked and this was wrong”.

In the letter, he says:

A few years ago, the college wrote to alumni of Oriel to ask our thoughts on the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes. At the time, I did not take the opportunity to offer an opinion. I understood the arguments, it certainly seems anachronous, and while the thoughts of its removal in no way concerned me, I simply considered it someone else’s decision to make. On reflection I think this attitude was probably a fault and an act of complicity in allowing the damage of Rhodes’ actions during his lifetime, and the century of their legacy to go unchallenged. I believe now is the time to remove the statue from the college and that is it is in all our interest that is done proactively and peacefully. Statues in situ do not teach us about history; their intent is to memorialise or magnify the reputations of those we admire. We cannot continue to glorify the acts or name of men like Rhodes.

Buist goes on to say that “I appreciate that Rhodes and his estate have financed a great deal of educational benefit. That does not atone.”

Updated

In London, Sadiq Khan is launching a review of statues with links to slavery. The mayor said that the city’s landmarks – including street names, the names of public buildings and plaques – will be reviewed by a commission.

Khan said: “It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owes a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade and while this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been wilfully ignored. This cannot continue …

“The Black Lives Matter protests have rightly brought this to the public’s attention, but it’s important that we take the right steps to work together to bring change and ensure that we can all be proud of our public landscape.

“A new Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm will also consider which legacies should be celebrated before making recommendations about new statues and which could be removed.”

You can read the full report from my colleague Rowena Mason here:

Updated

Also doing the media rounds this morning was former chief superintendent Dal Babu, who was appearing on Sky News and was highly critical of the home secretary. Priti Patel has suggested that police should have acted more firmly on Sunday when the statue of Edward Colston was being pulled down. “I think it’s very, very dangerous when politicians get involved and become armchair police officers,” he said.

Dal Babu spoke about the complexities of policing a situation like that, saying:

There is a real skill in being able to determine what to do in a disorder situation. You have to make decisions very, very quickly. You have to think about the protection of police officers, you have to think about the general welfare of the crowd. So these are complex decisions. You have to make them within the law, and you have to use the resources that you have. Police officers invariably will be outnumbered by demonstrators, so you just end up with a huge amount of injuries to police officers, and disorder, and perhaps not even achieving your goal.

His words echo those of Andy Marsh, the chief constable of the Avon and Somerset police, who said at the weekend of the decision not to intervene in the destruction of the statue:

To arrest suspects would likely lead to injuries to suspects, injuries to officers, and people who were not involved in damaging property being thrown into a very violent confrontation with the police. Can you imagine scenes of police in Bristol fighting with protesters who were damaging the statue of a man who is reputed to have gathered much of his fortune through the slave trade?

Updated

Former students of Oxford University have been campaigning for some time over the Cecil Rhodes statue. This week they have been urged to sign an open letter calling for the university to tackle systemic racism.

The open letter states that:

Despite multiple campaigns — including Rhodes Must Fall Oxford and Common Ground Oxford, and the tireless work of the Oxford African and Caribbean Society and Oxford Africa Society — the university has failed to address its institutional racism, its systemic racism across colleges, and the impact this has on the student body and city.

It goes on to make specific demands for the university to address the issue - and can be read in full here.

The historian and former Oriel College student Dr Kristen D Nawrotzki added her voice to the Rhodes Must Fall campaign this morning on social media.

Updated

Bristol city council has said it will act quickly to retrieve the statue of Edward Colston from the harbour.

The deputy mayor, Craig Cheney, acknowledged that if the council did not fish the statue out there was a risk someone else would take it away. “We do need to prioritise getting that out,” he said.

Speaking on BBC Radio Bristol, Cheney said that the idea of setting up a museum focusing on the slave trade in Bristol was being discussed by a steering group that was set up last year.

While emphasising that he did not condone the tearing down of the statue, he said it had been a “powerful and historical moment”.

There have already been some clips shared on social media which appear to show a group of people attempting to retrieve the statue from under the water.

Updated

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu was on Good Morning Britain a little while ago discussing the removal of the Edward Colston statue. She said:

Properties can be replaced, black lives can’t. And it is indefensible for those who suggest otherwise. So what we saw there is an act of resistance and the hypocrisy is palpable. Think about the fact that when Saddam Hussein’s statute was destroyed, people in this country hailed it as an act of resistance. But here you have the destruction of the statue of a slave trader condemned as lawless.

You can watch the clip here:

Updated

The toppling of the Edward Colston statue has inevitably led to a national debate about whether it was right to do it, and what should be done with the statue now, what should go into the space it has left behind.

If you haven’t seen this piece by Travis Alabanza about the statue, it really is worth a read. They talk about the racism they experienced growing up in Bristol, and what it felt like to watch the statue fall:

I watched the video of Edward Colston’s statue in my hometown of Bristol being pushed into Bristol harbour around 100 times last night … It felt different each time, I think. It fluctuated between the feeling of a sparkle of hope, to the satisfaction of watching a bully getting what they deserve at the end of a movie, to a feeling of pure disbelief.

They also talk about what might come next:

Already, there is discussion about what must replace the statue. People are thinking about the Bristol Bus Boycott and one of the founders of that movement, Dr Paul Stephenson. Others are talking about replacing it with sculptures or artworks by local young Black organisers and impact makers. But I want fellow Bristolians to pause. I want us to keep the rubble on the ground and to have to walk past it. For it to stay there, dust and all, as a reminder to the promise that was made in that action.

You should read it in full here: I didn’t think 2020 would have me crying tears of joy at the death of a statue, but here we are

Updated

The anti-racism protests of the last few days in the UK may have been initially sparked by an incident of police violence in the US, but they have been attempting to address a broad range of issues impacting on BAME society in the UK.

This morning we’ve got an interview with Patrick Roach, head of the teaching union NASUWT. In it he speaks about his own experience of racism at school in the 1970s, and where he thinks things are failing to be improved.

If we want to have the best teaching profession, then it has to be inclusive, and it is not. This is another one of these national scandals that has to sit squarely with the government. Clear statutory duties in respect of equality apply to schools as employers but how, since the 2010 Equalities Act, has the government sought to reinforce it in schools? It hasn’t. Successive secretaries of state have removed equality from the accountability systems, and that includes race equality.

It has been very instructive to hear from BAME members the extent to which they felt that their schools are just paying lip service to race equality. I know it is not a popular thing to say and that it is often misunderstood, but institutional racism does exist and is an issue that has clearly got to be addressed, especially in the light of the handling of the coronavirus emergency.

You can read the full interview here, where Roach also reflects on how further education gave him a second chance after school failed him: New UK teachers’ union chief: ‘Institutional racism in schools has got to be addressed’

Updated

26 Oxford councillors support #RhodesMustFall campaign

Overnight the Rhodes Must Fall campaign has been buoyed by 26 local councillors signing a letter in support of their protest. The letter reads:

We as City Councillors support the Rhodes Must Fall campaign in its demands for the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue from Oxford’s High Street and endorse its wider campaign to decolonise Oxford University.

Cecil Rhodes was a white supremacist who believed in brutal colonial rule and subjugation across Africa and the world.

A city’s public art and monuments should reflect its values. The presence of this statue on our High Street is incompatible with our city’s proud internationalist heritage and commitment to anti-racism.

We condemn Oriel College’s 2016 decision to privilege its donors over the wider Oxford community.

We call on Oriel College to immediately remove the Cecil Rhodes statue and associated plaque.

The campaign group are planing a peaceful protest at 5pm today.

Angus Robertson, the former deputy leader of the Scottish National party, has written for the Edinburgh Evening News about the extent to which monuments and buildings in Scotland’s capital are still named after figures linked to slavery.

As with the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, Robertson is arguing that the process of change and making public acknowledgements of the truth behind these monuments is far too slow.

Prominent Edinburgh residents associated with slavery include Henry Dundas, whose statue stands in the middle of St Andrew’s Square. The Tory MP for Midlothian was instrumental in delaying the end of slavery. Also on the square is Dundas House, now the RBS Headquarters, which was owned by his relative. The statue in front is of the 4th Earl of Hopetoun who put down a two-year slave revolution in the West Indies. The time has come to properly acknowledge the role of Dundas and others. The campaign by Edinburgh academic Sir Geoff Palmer to reword the history of Dundas is long past time for action. Monuments don’t just reflect the past, they are in pride of place in our present, in our capital city.

You can read the full piece here: Black Lives Matter protest is just the start. Edinburgh must be honest about its slavery past

Updated

Oxford Brookes University’s Afro-Caribbean Society has published overnight a mini-essay on Instagram on why they are campaigning for the removal of the controversial Cecil Rhodes statue from Oriel College.

The issue of whether Rhodes, and other controversial figures like him, should ‘fall’ was never about whether or not he should be remembered, it’s about him being celebrated…Imperialism and the exploitation of Africa is one of the reasons why Britain is such a successful nation, and Cecil Rhodes played a part in that. He was responsible for stealing and exploiting land in the Rhodesia region, and he exploited black workers to sustain his empire…keeping him up is just a reminder to the people of colour, especially black and African people, that they are in a space that celebrates him.

You can read the full post on Instagram.

Updated

If you haven’t seen it yet, Boris Johnson recorded a video message addressed to black and ethnic minority communities in the UK. In it he said that there was a “a cold reality” that these communities faced discrimination in employment, education, and in the application of the law. “I hear you,” he said. “I understand.”

However, he then went on to condemn protesters, saying they would face the “full force of the law” for acts of violence and vandalism, and he also admonished those who had not been obeying social distancing measures while out on protests. You can watch the clip here:

Updated

Good morning. Yesterday Boris Johnson was insisting that despite understanding the “depth of emotion” of those protesting, Britain was not a racist country. Thousands have been on the streets in the last few days to disagree with that assessment, and there will be more protests today.

In Oxford, between 5pm and 7pm there is an organised demonstration from the #RhodesMustFall campaign to put more pressure on Oxford University to remove a statue honouring colonialist Cecil Rhodes.

We’ll be bringing you live coverage of the protests, and further reaction to the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol at the weekend.

You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.

Updated

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