Four Deny Charges Over Toppling Of UK Slave Statue

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2021 ) :Four people denied charges of criminal damage on Monday in connection with the toppling of a statue commemorating a colonial-era slave trader during Black Lives Matter protests in Britain.

The removal of the bronze memorial to 17th century merchant Edward Colston in Bristol, southwest England, came at the height of the anti-racist protests in the UK in June last year.

Protesters inspired by demonstrations in the United States over the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd tore down the statue before throwing it into Bristol Harbour.

Nobody was arrested at the time, the four eventually being charged in December with damaging property belonging to the council.

The defendants -- Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Jake Skuse and Sage Willoughby -- were freed on bail after pleading not guilty, with a further hearing set for February 8.

Local police said they arrested four people outside the Bristol court for attending an unlawful protest at the time of the hearing.

"Gatherings of more than two people are prohibited by the government and protests are not exempt in this lockdown," said the police, referring to coronavirus measures.

Officers had warned earlier that planned protests would amount to a breach of the law.

Calls for a reassessment of Britain's colonial legacy have seen other sites associated with Colston renamed in Bristol.

On Thursday, the City of London Corporation, which runs London's financial district, removed statues of two British colonial-era politicians over their links to the slave trade.

The corporation launched a public consultation on monuments connected to slavery in September in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests.

The impetus to remove statues linked to Britain's colonial past has sparked a backlash, particularly after a statue of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill was targeted by last year's protests.

Last week, new legal protections came into force meaning historic statues would be removed only in the "most exceptional" circumstances.