The toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol yesterday has reignited the debate about whether an Oxford college should remove another stone tribute.
Protesters at an anti-racism demonstration in the city toppled the statue of Colston, a 17th century merchant, and dumped it in Bristol Harbour.
POLL: Should Oxford's Cecil Rhodes statue be removed?
Thousands of people attended the demonstration, one of many in the UK sparked by the death of George Floyd while he was under arrest in Minneapolis in the United States last month.
READ AGAIN: Protesters pull down statue of Edward Colston
It wasn't long before political commentators, including Labour activist Owen Jones, began to question whether other similar monuments should be removed.
The focus quickly shifted to Oxford University's Oriel College, where a major campaign in 2016 failed to persuade the college remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes.
Mr Jones tweeted: "Cecil Rhodes was a self-confessed white supremacist, an architect of apartheid, a stealer of African land, and he was complicit in the deaths of countless black Africans."
And a banner was spotted in Oxford suggesting that the Rhodes statue could be next to come down.
just spotted across the street from a certain statue on Oxford High Street lol pic.twitter.com/fkka1v754y
— Dr Jack Doyle (@JackRaoul) June 7, 2020
Four years ago The Rhodes Must Fall campaign protested about the college's decision to retain the controversial statue of the British imperialist and South African politician.
READ MORE: Students from Rhodes Must Fall campaign protest
But despite numerous demonstrations they were unable to persuade the college that it should be removed.
Those in favour of retaining the Rhodes statue include Oxford University Chancellor Chris Patten.
Cecil Rhodes was born in 1853 and died in 1902.
Early commercial success enabled Rhodes to fulfil his ambition to study at Oxford, where he was admitted to Oriel College in 1873 and took his degree in 1881.
The college will now face renewed campaigning and petitions for the Rhodes statue to be removed.
It has not yet been asked to comment.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel