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		</div><p>The Mayor of Bristol has said he feels no sense of loss after the city’s statue to slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown in the harbour.</p>
<p>Police in the UK have launched an investigation after the controversial bronze memorial to Colston, which has been situated in Bristol since 1895, was torn down during a Black Lives Matter demonstration.</p>
<p>After being pulled down, the statue was dragged through the city before being dumped in the harbour by Pero’s Bridge – named after enslaved man Pero Jones who lived and died in Bristol.</p>
<p>Around 10,000 people took part in the protest on Sunday, which was praised by Avon and Somerset Police for being “<i>peaceful and respectful</i>”.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">We have collected all the signs that were laid in the city after yesterday&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> protest so we can preserve them for display in the <a href="https://twitter.com/mshedbristol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mshedbristol</a> <a href="https://t.co/Beo09OKcdk">pic.twitter.com/Beo09OKcdk</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Bristol City Council (@BristolCouncil) <a href="https://twitter.com/BristolCouncil/status/1269879066984878082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>No arrests were made but officers are now collating footage of a “<i>small group of people</i>” filmed pulling down the statue with ropes, amounting to criminal damage, the force said.</p>
<p>UK Home Secretary Priti Patel described the incident as “<i>utterly disgraceful</i>”, while crime, policing and justice minister Kit Malthouse called for those responsible to be prosecuted.</p>
<p>Marvin Rees, mayor of Bristol, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “<i>As an elected politician, obviously I cannot condone the damage and I am very concerned about the implications of a mass gathering on the possibility of a second Covid wave.</i></p>
<p><i>“But I am of Jamaican heritage and I cannot pretend that I have any real sense of loss for the statue and I cannot pretend it was anything other than a personal affront to me to have it in the middle of Bristol, the city in which I grew up.”</i></p>
<p>Asked whether he wanted to see those involved with removing the statue charged, Mr Rees added: “<i>That is up to the criminal justice system.</i></p>
<p><i>“I don’t really intervene in criminal matters like that – that’s not for me to go and be a cheerleader to the police in any criminal investigations.</i>”</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Protesters in Bristol have pulled down the controversial statue of a 17th Century slave trader</p>
<p>âï¸: <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamRHale?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AdamRHale</a><a href="https://t.co/j9iu6CfAbg">https://t.co/j9iu6CfAbg</a></p>
<p>&mdash; PA Media (@PA) <a href="https://twitter.com/PA/status/1269660025666048002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Mr Rees, the elected Labour mayor, said the statue would be pulled out of the water and placed on display in a museum along with placards from the protest.</p>
<p>He told BBC Breakfast there was “<i>historic irony</i>” that the statue was now under water, as people were thrown off the sides of slave slips and there were “<i>many African bodies on the bottom of the water themselves</i>”.</p>
<p>After the statue was removed, people laid placards around the plinth where it had stood and shouted “<i>no justice, no peace</i>” and “<i>Black Lives Matter</i>”.</p>
<p>Some climbed on top of the plinth to deliver speeches or say a prayer and were widely applauded by the crowd, with vehicles driving past sounding their horns in support.</p>
<p>Speaking on Monday, Mr Malthouse told BBC Breakfast: “<i>A crime was committed, criminal damage was committed, there should be evidence gathered and a prosecution should follow</i>.”</p>
<p>He continued: “<i>There is an elected mayor of Bristol, there is a council in Bristol and it is via those democratic means that we will resolve these issues in this country – not by people showing up with ropes and tools and committing criminal damage.</i></p>
<p><i>“We have to have a sense of order and democracy – that is how we sort things out and that is what should have happened.</i>”</p>
<p>According to Historic England, the statue was sculpted by John Cassidy, of Manchester, with an inscription that read “<i>erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city AD 1895</i>”.</p>
<p>Colston’s involvement in the slave trade through the British-based Royal African Company was the source of much of the money which he bestowed in Bristol, the website added.</p>
<p>The statue was one of a number of landmarks in Bristol to take Colston’s name, although the nearby music venue Colston Hall will be renamed this year as part of a major refurbishment.</p>
<p>In a statement, Historic England said it had been engaged in “<i>local conversations</i>” about how the statue could be reinterpreted to tell “the full story”.</p>
<p>“<i>We recognise that the statue was a symbol of injustice and a source of great pain for many people</i>,” a spokesman said.</p>
<p>“<i>Whilst we do not condone the unauthorised removal of a listed structure, we recognise and understand the emotion and the hurt that public historical commemoration can generate and we encourage Bristol City Council to engage in a city-wide conversation about the future of the statue.</i></p>
<p><i>“We are here to offer guidance and support but believe the decision is best made at a local level – we do not believe it must be reinstated.</i>”</p>
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