Scottish Lawmakers Pass Motion To Create History Of Slavery Museum Amid Protests

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2020) Lawmakers in the Scottish Parliament have passed a motion on Thursday to establish a museum of slavery, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, amid global protests against racial inequality, according to the parliamentary website.

"[This parliament] agrees that Scotland should establish a slavery museum to address our historic links to the slave trade," the motion, which passed by 52 votes for and none against, read.

In the same motion, Scottish lawmakers expressed their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and also called on the UK government to ban the export of riot-control equipment, amid a wave of public unrest that has swept across the globe after George Floyd, an African American male, died in the custody of US police officers on May 25.

"[This parliament] stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and considers that the UK Government must immediately suspend all export licences for tear gas, rubber bullets and riot gear to the US," the motion read.

Members of parliament also expressed their regret that statutes and street Names commemorating slave traders or those who advocated for the slave trade remain, in the wake of the toppling of a statue of Edward Colston, an 18th-century slave trader, in the English city of Bristol on Sunday.

A new initiative called Topple the Racists has been launched in the UK, providing a map of all the statutes, memorials, and titles in the country that celebrate racism and slavery.