The series of photos has toured the world: we see a rather young crowd, as white as black, rolling on its side a bronze statue, just torn from its pedestal, then swinging it over a parapet, in the port of Bristol (in the south-west of England). This June 7, 2020, the sky is gray, the first English confinement not yet fully lifted, but the mines are happy, the feverish hands and shining eyes.
There was no violence, but enthusiasm, later assured dozens of witnesses – extras, actors or both at the same time – during this great moment of collective catharsis, on the occasion of one of the first The UK’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, which followed the murder of black American George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
It was above all, for the Bristolians, to get rid of a cumbersome figure: Edward Colston (1636-1721). Celebrated as a benefactor of the city, for having founded schools and orphanages there, the man was also a notorious slave trader. The unbolting of his statue, erected in the city at the end of the 19th centurye century, inaugurates a movement that will seize the whole country.
Show of support on Facebook
On February 8, 2021, the crowds will likely be absent, as will the euphoria of late last spring. Four young men are due to appear before Bristol Royal Court, prosecuted for “Criminal damages” by the Crown Prosecution Service (the prosecutor), for having participated in the unbolting and then the immersion of the statue in the waters of the port.
“The unbolting of the statue is an act of patriotism, not vandalism, it is an act of hope, not criminal damage. Shawn Sobers, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bristol
The young defendants – the youngest is 21, the oldest 32 – plead not guilty. They appeared for the first time, on January 25, in a court of first instance, but refused a expedited trial and opted for a trial in a royal court, with a people’s jury. For more publicity? Their lawyers did not respond to the World. That day, in any case, the third English reconfinement requires, the demonstration in support of the “Colston 4” switched to Facebook: the main whistleblowers participated in the presence – uncontextualized – of Colston in the local public space ( the plaque, fixed on the base of the statue, described the slaver as a son “Virtuous and wise”…).
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