ANOTHER Black Lives Matter protest was held in Oxford on Tuesday evening, as Oriel College discussed the future of the Cecil Rhodes statue in a meeting yesterday.
The march passed by the college on Tuesday as it took to the streets of Oxford.
Starting at 5pm in Union Street, Cowley, the procession made its way to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History - via the statue that has sparked much debate in the city.
Following the toppling of the 17th century slaver and merchant Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol earlier this month, calls for 19th century imperialist Rhodes’ statue to be removed have been revived.
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On June 9, hundreds of protestors gathered outside the college to demand the removal of Rhodes’ statue.
A spokesperson for Oriel College said that the governing body and all concerned parties at the college are ‘fully aware of the responsibility they hold with regard to both the Rhodes statue and wider issues under discussion’.
Thames Valley Police (TVP) kept an eye on proceedings on Tuesday, setting up barriers at Christ Church Meadow to keep the protestors safe.
In a post on social media, the force said it was at the protest ‘to support the public’s right to protest and their freedom of expression’.
TVP added: “We have been working with the organisers and the public to facilitate a peaceful protest and to keep our communities safe.”
The force also thanked the public for its cooperation, patience and continued support.
Born in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, Rhodes acquired his wealth in diamond and gold mining.
He was then prime minister of the former Cape Colony, where some of the legislation he passed laid the groundwork for the discriminatory apartheid policies of South Africa in the 20th century.
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His detractors see him as a racist responsible for exploiting people in the UK’s African colonies, and promoting a belief that the ‘Anglo-Saxon race’ was the ‘first race in the world’.
Upon his death, Rhodes gave most of his fortune to the Rhodes Scholarship, a scheme which awards money for students from other countries to study at Oxford.
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