London to remove two statues over links to slavery

LONDON: The local authority that runs London’s historic financial district is to remove the statues of two British colonial-era politicians over their links to the slave trade.

The City of London Corporation voted on Thursday to remove the statues of two 17th and 18th century figures because they had accrued wealth through the slave trade.

The monuments to William Beckford, a former London mayor who drew his wealth from plantations in Jamaica that used slave labour, and John Cass, an MP and major figure in the Royal Africa Company that facilitated the transatlantic slave trade, will be re-sited.

The corporation launched a public consultation on monuments connected to slavery in September in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests that swept Britain and Europe following the death in US police custody of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, months earlier.

The demonstrations, which culminated in the toppling of a statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston during an anti-racism protest, sparked nationwide calls to remove monuments linked to Britain’s colonial past.