As part of the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-racism protesters in the city of Bristol, England have pulled down a 17th-century slave trader while demonstrating.
The protesters tied the 125-year-old bronze statue in honor of Edward Colston with rope before toppling it before the cheering crowd.
Later on, the statue is seen being rolled to the nearby harbor and thrown into the River Avon.
Local police say the incident is now under investigation.
Avon and Somerset police said in a statement on Sunday, “”There was a small group of people who clearly committed an act of criminal damage in pulling down a statue near Bristol Harbourside.”
“An investigation will be carried out to identify those involved and we are already collating footage of the incident.”
Superintendent Andy Bennett of Avon and Somerset Police said in an interview that the officers decided not to intervene as believe doing so may cause more violence and disorder.
“We know that it has been an historical figure that has caused the black community quite a lot of angst over the last couple of years. So whilst I’m disappointed people would damage one of our statues, I do understand why it has happened, it is very symbolic,” he said.
Bennett added, “We made a very tactical decision that to stop people from doing that act may have caused further disorder and we decided the safest thing to do in terms of our policing tactics was to allow it to take place.”
“Our policing style from the outset was low key, we were not able to get to the statue in time to protect it and once it had been toppled there was clearly a pre-planned attempt to bring that down, they had the ropes and they had the right tools. So once it was down we made the right decision which was just to allow it to happen because what we did not want is tension.”
The Colston statue has stood in Bristol’s city center since 1895, but its existence has become increasingly controversial, as Colston is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of around 30,000 slaves shipped from Africa to the Americas,