By Josh Halliday (now) and Martin Belam (earlier)
Live coverage and reaction from around the UK as Oxford demonstration against Cecil Rhodes statue expected this evening
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1.52pm BST
The leader of Edinburgh City Council has said he would feel “no sense of loss” if a statue of Henry Dundas, a politician who delayed the abolition of slavery, was removed.
Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, frustrated efforts to end the slave trade by using his influence as home secretary, setting the move back 15 years.
I would have absolutely no sense of loss if the Dundas statue was removed and replaced with something else or left as a plinth.
I think it’s important to tell our story as a city, I think it’s important that that’s reflective, that’s representative of what actually happened – not what we might have wanted to happen – and I think we take that conversation from there.
1.32pm BST
A senior Tory city councillor in Bristol has described slave trader Edward Colston as a “hero” and condemned the toppling of his statue as “frenzied thug violence”.
The councillor, Richard Eddy, was formerly the Conservative leader on Bristol city council and is no stranger to controversy.
I am horrified and appalled by the rank lawlessness which was exposed in Bristol on Sunday when the famous statue of Edward Colston was attacked and vandalised by a criminal mob.
Edward Colston to me and generations of Bristolians stands out as a hero whose wealth has continued to benefit the housing, education and healthcare of the citizens of this city.
Source: UK Black Lives Matter protests live: Oxford demo to target Rhodes statue
Category: Black Lives Matter movement, Race, Protest, UK news, University of Oxford, Oxford
