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I totally get the removal of a lot of the US statues. But given Bristol's history, in the case of this particular statue I'd have thought it would be better to keep it (but not on a plinth) and change how it is described - maybe part of a wider educational display.
Obviously Colston's name being attached to all the schools etc. is a different matter.
hugo7
dst2
mespilus
I may misremember, but I think this is the first instance of iconoclasm (as opposed to just property damage) that I've seen in protests since ... probably since the green Mohican on Churchill, although that wasn't really iconoclasm.
As a protest gesture, it's excellent. Having said that, I always prefer it when things like this are done officially, but I don't know what the institutional blockages were in this case. It might still have taken years had they gone down that route. You just don't know if there will be some kind of attempt to set the statue (which was evidently damaged) up again. I hope not.
Priti Patel pulsing fully in sync with the zeitgeist, as ever.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/07/blm-protesters-topple-statue-of-bristol-slave-trader-edward-colston