Winston Churchill monument in London was covered with shields

Winston Churchill monument in London was covered with shields
Winston Churchill monument in London was covered with shields
13 June 2020, 23:58In the worldPhoto: London News Pictures
The protests in the United States and a number of European countries after the murder of African American George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis by the police acquired in many ways the character of the “war on monuments”.

Protesters are unhappy with the monuments to historical figures of the past, they call them colonialists, slave traders and racists.

For example, in the United States, the massive demolition of monuments to the discoverer of the continent, Christopher Columbus, continues. On June 11, authorities in Camden, New Jersey, dismantled the monument to America's discoverer, who stood in a city park. Although Christopher Columbus did not even sail to the territory of the present USA, the Indians of all America blame him for their troubles in the subsequent time.

In the New Zealand city of Hamilton, a statue was erected in honor of the British colonialist John Fane, Charles Hamilton , who was complained by representatives of the indigenous population of the country - the Maori. Well, in London, the monument to the legendary Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War, Winston Churchill, already suffered from the protesters.

On the eve of new protests against racial discrimination, which are scheduled in the UK this weekend, the monument to Winston Churchill was closed with shields. Earlier, protesters applied graffiti to it and affixed a sign saying "racist", said the site of the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the actions an attempt to censor history and recalled that Churchill was one of those who saved the country and all of Europe from fascism. However, fearing vandalism, the city of London also covered with plywood shields even a monument to the South African rights activist Nelson Mandela and the Memorial in honor of those killed in the First World War. The mayor of the British capital, Sadik Khan, said that some of London's monuments in London can be demolished, as they "remind of the times of inhumane values." He also suggested evaluating the relevance of street art and street names.

In London, in particular, a monument to the Scottish merchant and slave owner of the XVIII century Robert Milligan was demolished, and in Bristol - to the philanthropist and member of the parliament of the XVII century and at the same time the slave trader Edward Colston. The monument was dragged along the streets of the city, and then thrown into the bay under the enthusiastic cries of the audience. However, he was soon taken out of the water and promised to be sent to the museum. The authorities of Poole in southern England plan to dismantle the monument to the founder of the scout movement, Robert Baden-Powell, but only in order to protect him from the protesters.

In the US state of Virginia, protesters demolished a monument to the former president of the rebellious Confederation of the 1860s, Jefferson Davis. In Portsmouth, demonstrators also destroyed several statues of Confederate heroes. The war with monuments reached even Belgium, where monuments to the 19th-century king Leopold II suffered. He was accused of the cruelties of colonial policy towards the local population, right up to the genocide in what is now Congo. In Brussels, they wrote “killer” on his monument, in Antwerp they tried to set fire to the statue and painted graffiti. Similarly, protesters acted with a monument to Leopold II in the city of Ghent.
