In Bristol, England, police attended a protest against police brutality, during which a more than 100 year old man who posed no threat to them was allegedly pushed so hard that he fell into the harbour where his slave ships used to dock.
Although the incident took part in daylight, and in full view of witness, including Herald journalists, the Bristol police department issued a statement to say that, during a “skirmish involving protestors, one man was injured when he tripped and fell.”
However, that account of what happened was quickly revealed to be a lie. Just over 20 minutes after the police statement was public, a video was tweeted which clearly showed that the man in question was a statue of slave trading Tory MP Edward Colston.
The statue had stood in Bristol since 1895 in tribute to Colston, who traded an estimated 84,000 African men, women and children. Yes children. The slave trader Tory MP, was a self-described philanthropist, endowing schools, almhouses, hospitals and churches in Bristol, London and elsewhere with some of the proceeds of his human trafficking.
“You can’t just get rid of him,” said local Michael Hunt, “there are all sorts of things named after him, like Colston Tower, Colston Avenue, there’s even a Colston bread bun,” he continued, coming perilously close to realising that so much of Britain’s wealth and history is built on the backs of slaves.
Protestors insist those still interested in Edward Colston could visit him at the bottom of the harbour if they like.
