More than 1000 protesters have converged on a college at Oxford University, chanting "take it down" and "shame on you" to demand the removal of a statue of 19th century British colonialist Cecil Rhodes.
A wave of anti-racism protests sweeping across the United States and Europe has reignited a debate about monuments glorifying Britain's imperialist past, which many people see as offensive in today's multi-ethnic society.
Protesters converged on a college at Oxford University, chanting ‘take it down’ and ‘shame on you’ to demand the removal of a statue of 19th century British colonialist Cecil Rhodes
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June 9, 2020
Dramatic images on Sunday of protesters in the port city of Bristol tearing down a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and throwing it into the harbour inspired campaigners in Oxford to seize the moment.
"Rhodes represents such a violent legacy of colonialism, imperialism, slavery, particularly in southern Africa," said protester Morategi Kale, a South African graduate student at Oxford, said on Tuesday.
"The beginning is to take down a statue that celebrates that."
Many academics and public figures oppose the removal of such monuments, arguing they merely reflect history and should be used as points of discussion.
But demonstrators said the statue of Rhodes should no longer have pride of place on the facade of Oriel College, which overlooks Oxford's High Street.
"I think what he did should be in the museum, but not on an institution of higher education. It's just the wrong place," said Butch Smith, a chef, who had brought his young daughter to the protest.
Jeevan Ravindran, a student, said the statue showed the university was failing to engage with issues faced by students from ethnic minority backgrounds.
"For black and brown students to have to walk around this university and see these symbols of slavery and colonisation is frankly quite abhorrent," she said.
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