UK protests live: all Labour councils in England and Wales to review statues as Rhodes Oxford demo starts

The killing of George Floyd has triggered a wave of activism around the world. It has seen the historic removal of statues – by force, at first, then by persuasion – and continued in waves from Minneapolis across Europe to Australia, New Zealand and remote islands inbetween.

Take a look at this short film on an extraordinary fortnight in the fight for racial equality.

The Museum for London has confirmed it is working with partners to remove the statue of 18th century slave owner Robert Milligan, which we reported on earlier.

It says:

At the Cecil Rhodes rally, a speaker who introduced himself as one of seven black professors at Oxford University – to huge cheers and applause from the crowd – has said the phrase “black lives matter” resonated because of “a history of white supremacy that has denigrated, exploited and subjugated black lives”.

He said the campaign group Rhodes Must Fall, which he joined in 2015, had been started by student activists in South Africa who were “tired of colonial iconography, tired of white supremacy in our curriculums, tired of the crisis of representation of black and other minority ethnic people in our institutions”.

Another speaker, from Oxford city council, repeated its invitation to the university to apply for planning permission to remove the Rhodes statue:

The campaign group Rhodes Must Fall, which is leading the protest against the Cecil Rhodes statue, is calling on Oxford’s Oriel College to make an “official, public and permanent acknowledgement of the colonial violence upon which [the college] is built” and to establish a “reparatory scholarship scheme for southern Africans of African descent” to begin next year. See its other demands below:

Neil Misra, vice-president of Oxford Student Union for graduates, said such a “racist and imperialist symbol” as the Cecil Rhodes statue “has no place on the front facade of Oriel College”.

He added: “The statue is an affront to our students of colour and our university community.”

Misra said he has put forward a motion to the graduate study body which endorses the removal of the statue:

It is essential that we as students make it explicitly clear to the college that we find the continued displaying of the statue on the college’s facade inappropriate and repugnant. Moreover, it is our duty to push the college to accept the council’s invitation at the earliest possible juncture.

Ndjodi Ndeunyema, one of the Oxford protest organisers, told the crowd of about 1,000 people they were showing “solidarity with humanity”. He said:

We are here to shame the college that seeks to venerate and glorify someone who is not worthy of glorification or veneration. We demand an official and public acknowledgement of the colonial violence on which Oriel is built. We demand the immediate removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes.

Addressing the university, Ndeunyema added: “People will constantly remind you of your shameful history that you refuse to confront.”

Oxford’s high street has been brought to a standstill by the rally to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes. Mounted police are at the scene but the protest has been wholly peaceful, with demonstrators sitting for several minutes in silence before directing chants at Oxford University.

My intrepid colleague Archie Bland has been on the trail of the sculpture of a black man with exaggerated features that was taken down by locals in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, last night following a huge petition to remove the “racist” bust.

The wooden sculpture is being kept in “a secret location” – which may or may not be a Conservative councillor’s garage – for safe-keeping while the council decides what to do with it. You can read Archie’s story here.