UK Rioters Topple Statue of Historic Figure Edward Colston

What is the left’s obsession with tearing down statues?

It seems that there are more productive ways to express their ideas than pure acts of vandalism.

Then again, these “protests” lately have been less about constructive ideas and more about looting and destruction.

On Sunday, rioters in the United Kingdom defaced and toppled a statue of famed British philanthropist Edward Colston.

Their reasoning?

At some point, Colston had been involved in the slave trade.

Here’s the report from CNN on the destruction of the statue:

Anti-racism protesters in England have pulled down a statue of a 17th-century slave trader while demonstrating in solidarity with the US Black Lives Matter movement.

The protesters in the city of Bristol, in southwest England, tied the bronze statue of Edward Colston with rope before toppling it to cheers from the surrounding crowd.

Demonstrators were later seen rolling the statue to the nearby harbor and throwing it into the River Avon.

While the incident garnered much celebration among protesters, local police say an investigation has been launched into the incident.

“There was a small group of people who clearly committed an act of criminal damage in pulling down a statue near Bristol Harbourside,” Avon and Somerset police said Sunday in a statement. “An investigation will be carried out to identify those involved and we are already collating footage of the incident.”

The statue of Colston had stood in Bristol’s city center since 1895 but had become increasingly controversial, with petitions created to demand its removal.

The Museums of Bristol website describes Colston as a “revered philanthropist / reviled slave trader.”

It says he was born in the city in 1636, but spent his working life in London, becoming “an active member of the governing body of the RAC [Royal African Company], which traded in enslaved Africans, for 11 years.”

The site says Colston gave away most of his fortune to charity with restrictions to ensure beneficiaries matched his religious affiliations.

Many seem to overlook the fact that Colston gave away almost his entire fortune to charitable causes.

While we’re at it, we should probably destroy statues of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and a large amount of other important figures from the 17th and 18th centuries.

They all owned slaves, something that was common for the elite at that point in time.

Yet the left really never has shown much regard for the full story of history.

CNN also details how violent the UK protests turned:

Protests in London turned violent Sunday as protesters and police clashed near Downing Street.

Officers were seen pushing and using their batons with some even punching and grabbing protesters as they approached the line of police.

People were scattered between three areas — Parliament Square, Whitehall and Downing Street — while protesters could be seen in videos on social media climbing walls, statues and traffic lights.

This comes as activists filled public spaces in huge numbers for the second consecutive weekend to commemorate the death of George Floyd and demand an end to systemic racism — staging “die-ins” outside US embassies and even tearing down a statue of a former slave trader in the British town of Bristol.

In London, Rome, Madrid, Warsaw, Sydney, Hong Kong and countless other cities, protesters packed streets that have laid deserted for months to tell governments around the world that “Black Lives Matter.”

Some defied coronavirus lockdowns and warnings from politicians to do so. Many protesters wore masks during the weekend’s rallies, while some carried messages that racial inequality is also a public health crisis.

They marched in solidarity with tens of thousands in the US, whose protests on Saturday were the biggest yet since video of Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer ignited a wave of anger and action.

But they turned out to draw attention to racial injustice in their own nations, too.

In London, thousands congregated outside the US Embassy on Sunday despite British ministers saying that public protests ran the risk of increasing the spread of Covid-19.

Chants of “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter” bounced off the building in the Vauxhall region of the city, with a jubilant atmosphere for much of the day.

“Together, we will let our voices be heard. Enough is Enough. Black people cannot keep suffering,” one protester addressed the crowd.

At times, the activists chanted “The UK is not innocent.” Others had messages for the US President, with one sign reading: “Black lives trump your ego, Mr. President.”

The previous day, activists had descended onto Parliament Square in the center of the city. Protests were peaceful for several hours, but turned heated in the evening when police and crowds faced off outside Downing Street.

In one incident, video posted online showed a police horse suddenly bolting, causing its officer to crash into a street light and fall to the ground. The loose horse then caused panic as it ran through groups of protesters, before making its way back to police stables.

“I stand with you. George Floyd’s brutal killing must lead to immediate and lasting change everywhere,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a Sunday message to protesters, while condemning the minority who turned violent and reminding activists to try to limit physical interactions.

Check out what’s circulating on Twitter over the statue’s fate: