Imo trashing the statute is far worse than peeing in the street .....that's my shout anyway whether it right or wrong
Removing a statue of a man who was pivotal in the trading of other human beings as 'property' wasn't wrong in any normal person's mind. There shouldn't be monuments celebrating such things. There should however, be monuments celebrating the lives of police officers murdered in the line of duty. To urinate in public is bad enough, but to urinate on or right next to the memorial of Keith Palmer is beyond wrong. I can happily listen to and understand, even agree with those who removed that slaver's statue. My mind allows that, as it's a normal thought-process. I can't for the life of me understand the reasoning behind the actions of the scumbag who took a píss at that memorial. I wouldn't even want to look at the idiot, never mind hear its excuse.
The plinth has almost certainly been damaged (and may need to be made safe). Also, there is the cost of recovering the statue. None of that work would have needed to be done had the statue still been in place. How does this all work when the “damage” was caused by several individuals?
I wonder how many of those bleating about criminal damage might change their attitudes if it had been a statue of Thatcher in Barnsley that had been pulled down, even though her actions were many orders of magnitude less objectionable than slavery...
Or if the chap urinating on a memorial to a white policeman murdered by an Islamic terrorist was brown skinned...
You are comparing apples and pears between the two offences. The bloke pissing, regardless of the memorial was in full view of the general public hence the charge. The statue, criminal damage although I am very surprised there isnt any public order offences against him nor can I understand the anonymity. Plus side, there has been a few identified from footage who have already lost their internships etc with businesses who disagreed with the actions of the mob. Regardless of however you view Colston and his statue there are ways and means of doing things in the UK. Mob rule isnt the way to do things. As a guess the vast majority of people on here agreeing with the statues removal were until it made the news either unaware of its existence or had little or no opinion on it at all. If the historical significance of a statue causes offence you act like a grown up and discuss rationalise and come to a general consensus of what do with it. Not allow a howling mob of mostly middle class white kids to run amock. Otherwise where does it stop? And where would you stand if a mob went and pulled down the statue of Mandela?
Shouting out the hypocrisy and double standards of the libernazi's and woke sjw (p)ricks. too ******* right.
not just on here - in fecking Bristol A petition for it's removal gathered 103 signatures in 3 years. Hardly a public outcry.
The people of Bristol (taxpayers) voted to have the monument taken down, long before BLM came into the equation so now they have got this statue who was an excuse for a human being back what the **** are they going to do with it.
Still waiting for the demands for statues of John Locke and Samuel Pepys to be demanded to be pulled down. Strangely nobody objects to them
I agree with the broader point but I don't agree with mob rule, I unequivocally support the rule of law. You cannot turn a blind eye just because you agree with the outcome or support the cause of those involved. The ends should never justify the means when it comes to criminal damage and mob rule. The statue should have been removed, put into a museum and fitted with a second inscription detailing exactly how he made his money. Allowing mob rule to go unpunished is a slippery slope - what happens when a mob does something that you don't agree with? Because that is what happens; one side see another side doing something and think well if it is OK for them then it must be OK for me to do it. I also agree re: the idiot who took a p*** next to the memorial of a murdered policeman. I said at the time I didn't agree with him going to jail because it set a precedent, and now we are seeing the parallels being drawn. I don't think he had a clue what he was doing, he had drunk so much he just thought he was taking a leak and had no idea what was next to him. That isn't defending him, I think he was a moron.