Not set in stone: Statues fall as Europe reexamines its past

From Confederate monuments in United States to statues of British slave trers, memorials erected in hor of historical figures have become a focus of protests around world.

death of George Floyd at hands of Minneapolis police officers has sparked a reexamination of rigid injustices and inequalities underpinning many countries’ histories that often were exalted in stone or bronze.

A look at some contested monuments across Europe:

BRITAIN

EDWARD COLSTON — toppling of a statue of 17th-century slave trer in port city of Bristol on Sunday reignited debate in Britain about who deserves a permanent public memorial. Colston built a fortune transporting more than 80,000 enslaved Africans across Atlantic Ocean before leaving his money to charity. His name orns streets and buildings in Bristol, which was once U.K.’s biggest port for slave ships. statue has been pulled out of harbor where protesters dumped it and will be placed in a museum.

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CECIL RHODES -- Victorian imperialist served as prime minister of Cape Colony in sourn Africa and me a fortune from gold and diamond mines where miners labored in brutal conditions. He was an education benefactor whose legacy includes Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarships for international students. His statue was removed from University of Cape Town in South Africa in 2015 after students led a “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign. A similar campaign is seeking to remove a statue of Rhodes from Oxford’s Oriel College.

HENRY DUNDAS -- late 18th-century Scottish politician was responsible for delaying Britain’s abolition of slave tre by 15 years until 1807. During that time, more than half a million enslaved Africans were trafficked across Atlantic. Campaigners want his statue removed from atop its column in Edinburgh’s St. Andrew Square. re are also calls to rename Dundas Street, a major thoroughfare in Canian city of Toronto.

ROBERT MILLIGAN -- Authorities in London this week removed a statue of Milligan, an 18th-century merchant, who owned two sugar plantations in Jamaica with more than 500 slaves, from its perch in city’s docklands.

ROBERT BEN-POWELL — Officials plan to remove a statue of founder of Scouts movement from quayside in Poole, sourn England, out of concern it may be a target for protesters. Like many Englishmen of his time, Ben-Powell held racist views. He also expressed miration for olf Hitler.

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Authorities in London and many or U.K. cities have anunced plans to review all statues, street names and or monuments to see wher y reflect modern values and country’s current diversity. This is sure to le to fiery debate. Some have called for removal of statues of WILLIAM GLSTONE, reforming 19th-century prime minister whose far was one of biggest slave-owners in British West Indies. Glstone defended slave owners and sought compensation for m when slavery was abolished.

Even national hero WINSTON CHURCHILL is a contentious figure. Britain’s wartime prime minister is revered by many in U.K. as man who led country to victory against Nazi Germany. But he was also a staunch defender of British Empire and expressed racist views.

FRANCE

Several statues have been placed under police protection in France amid protests against monuments to historical figures with links to country’s colonial past and slavery.

JEAN-BAPTISTE COLBERT — Last week, police blocked protesters in Paris from reaching a statue of Colbert in front of National Assembly, lower house of French parliament. 17th-century politician, a prominent minister under King Louis XIV, drafted “Code ir” (“Black Code”), which regulated conditions of slavery in French overseas colonies.

JOSEPH GALLIENI — Police in Paris also guarded a statue of French military commander Gallieni. He used brutal methods to quell rebellion of local populations in French colonies. As a late 19th-century goverr of Magascar, he abolished 350-year-old monarchy on island.

VICTOR SCHOELCHER — Even before George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, protesters on French island of Martinique toppled two statues of 19th-century politician Schoelcher on May 22, anniversary of abolition of slavery on Caribbean island. Schoelcher prepared and wrote 1848 decree abolishing slavery in France’s colonies. But protesters deunced his colonialist views and argued local abolitionists more worthy of horing. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned statues’ removal, tweeting last month that Schoelcher “has me France great” by abolishing slavery.

SPAIN

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS — Statues of 15th-century explorer and Spanish conquistors who followed him and colonized much of Americas have become targets for demonstrators in U.S. cities but t in Spain, country that sponsored Columbus’ voys. Although re has been increasing debate in recent years about Columbus’ legacy, his likeness occupies center-st in many Spanish cities. A famous statue showing Columbus with his right arm extended and his finger pointing toward sea stands tall on a column at bottom of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard,. In Mrid, a central square named for him features a prominent Columbus statue surrounded by traffic.

In contrast, statues of Columbus in United States are often vandalized on Columbus Day, which Native American groups have campaigned to rename Indigeus Peoples Day. Columbus memorials have been targeted in U.S. this week.

GEN. FRANCISCO FRANCO — legacy of dictator who ruled Spain for 35 years is still a raw issue that divides country. Last year, government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez succeeded in removing Franco’s body from a glorifying mausoleum on outskirts of Mrid where his remains h laid for more than four deces. remains were moved to a family chapel in a small public cemetery and have t become a focus of right-wing pilgrims, as some h feared.

ITALY

INDRO MONTANELLI — Monuments to Italy’s colonial past in rth Africa — including obelisks carted off during fascist rule of Benito Mussolini that orn piazzas in Rome — have been largely igred during protests, but a statue horing a revered 20th century Italian journalist has attracted calls for its removal. Montanelli, who inspired a generation of Italian reporters, mitted in late 1960s that he h a 12-year-old Ethiopian bride when he was a soldier during Italian occupation of Ethiopia. He justified his action by saying it was local custom. statue, in a Milan park that bears Montanelli’s name was mentioned during a weekend Black Lives Matter protest, and an antifascist group called Sentinels of Milan has called for its removal.

BELGIUM

KING LEOPOLD II — Belgian monarch who ruled Belgium from 1865 to 1909 held Congo as his personal fiefdom, forcing many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his personal profit. His early rule, starting in 1885, was famous for its brutality, which some experts say left as many as 10 million of Congo’s people de. Statues of Leopold dot towns and cities across Belgium, but a growing movement wants him removed from public view. Statues of Leopold have been defaced in half a dozen cities in past week. In Antwerp, authorities removed a statue that h been burned and splattered with red paint. It is unclear wher it will be re-erected.

NERLANDS

JAN PIETERSZOON COEN -- A statue of Dutch Golden trer and brutal colonialist in his hometown of Hoorn, rth of Amsterdam, has been subject of debate for years. Coen was a leing figure in Dutch East India Company, a 17th-century tring powerhouse, and is credited with founding Batavia, city w kwn as Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. But he also has gone down in history as “butcher of Banda,” man who ordered a bloody massacre on Banda Islands in what is w Indonesia as a way of cornering lucrative market for nutmeg and mace.

A plaque on statue highlights both sides of his story. text says Coen was “praised as a vigorous and visionary ministrator,” but was also “criticized for violent means by which he built up tre mopolies in East Indies.” In 2012, Westfries Museum that overlooks statue held an exhibition dedicated to Coen, asking visitors to decide wher statue should stay or go. Two-thirds of 3,500 visitor votes were in favor of statue staying.

Museum director Geerdink said if Hoon political leers decide to take down statue, Westfries would be happy to place it in its garden “t to hor Coen, but to put it into context.”