January 10, 2022
A court in Bristol, England, found four
protestors not guilty of criminal damage after they took part in the toppling
of a monument to a slave trader during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.
Photographs of the action, which involved tossing the statue into a nearby
harbor, became some of the most iconic images of the protests spurred by the
murder of George Floyd in June of that year, and the case had been closely
watched in the U.K.
The four protestors—Rhian Graham, Jake Skuse, Sage Willoughby, and Milo Ponsford—had been accused of causing criminal damage when they removed the statue without permission. According to the Guardian, the protestors did not deny that they had toppled the monument but said that they were not guilty of the charges.
The statue was a monument to Edward
Colston, a member of the Royal African Company, which transported thousands of
slaves from Africa annually during the mid-and late 17th century. Protestors
strung up the statue with rope and launched it into the harbor that slaves had
passed through centuries ago. Footage of the statue’s toppling went viral on
social media—and initiated a grappling with monuments in England and around the
world. Three days after the statue was thrown into the river, London mayor
Sadiq Khan announced plans to review all statues in the city that could be
linked to the slave trade.
The trial over the actions of the
protestors, who have become known as the Colston 4, has been public-facing and
controversial. Even the famed street artist Banksy got involved, producing
T-shirts in support of the protestors.
In an Instagram post announcing the shirts, Banksy wrote that all proceeds from the sale would go to the defendants “so they can go for a pint.” Although Banksy sold the shirts at £25 (~$33) each, one shirt has already appeared on eBay at £9,000 (~$11,890).
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