British slave trader's statue replaced by one of protester

BRISTOL (Britain) • A statue of a slave trader toppled by anti-racism protesters in Britain last month was replaced yesterday - without permission - with a sculpture of a black woman who helped pull it down.

The new statue, showing Black Lives Matter (BLM) protester Jen Reid with her fist raised, occupies the plinth where the Edward Colston likeness stood before crowds threw it into Bristol harbour in south-west England. Titled A Surge Of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, the new statue by British artist Marc Quinn was erected without the knowledge of the Bristol City Council.

Ms Reid attended the unveiling and told The Guardian newspaper that it was "just incredible".

"This is going to continue the conversation. I can't see it coming down in a hurry," she said.

The local authority had said previously that any decision to replace the Colston statue would be taken locally, a view reinforced by Bristol mayor Marvin Rees yesterday.

"The sculpture that has been installed today was the work and decision of a London-based artist. It was not requested and permission was not given for it to be installed," he said in a statement.

The council announced last month that it will set up a commission to discover the "true history" of Bristol, one of the British cities most prominently involved in the slave trade. Colston's statue had occupied the plinth since 1895 before being taken down by BLM protesters who took to the streets following the police killing of an unarmed African American man, Mr George Floyd, in the US state of Minnesota in May.

Mr Floyd's death helped fuel global protests, including in Britain where much of the focus has been on its colonial past. Colston was a 17th century slave trader and Conservative MP whose company forcibly moved large numbers of West Africans.

Since the march in Bristol, there have been calls for other statues to be taken down, including that of colonialist Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University's Oriel College.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE