Statue of De Beers Founder Must Come Down, say Protestors
June 10, 20
(IDEX Online) - Thousands of British protestors have taken to the streets demanding the removal of a statue honoring Cecil Rhodes, founder of the De Beers diamond empire.
It follows widespread Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of a police officer in the USA.
On Sunday crowds in Bristol pulled down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the harbour, sparking a nationwide debate that now focuses on Rhodes and others accused of being racists and white supremacists.
The Rhodes Must Fall campaign has been active since 2015, calling for the bronze statue of Cecil Rhodes, at Oxford University, where he studied, to be toppled.
The city's two Members of Parliament are now backing that call and 250,000 people have signed an online petition against the statue of Rhodes, a statesman, imperialist, mining magnate, and politician.
Rhodes, born in England in 1853, was sent to South Africa as a teenager and established De Beers empire in 1888, gaining near-complete domination of the world diamond market.
Opponents in Oxford say allowing a statue of Rhodes to remain is incompatible with the city's "commitment to anti-racism".
TV grab shows crowds in Oxford