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Jen Reid: Bristol Black Lives Matter statue removed | Jen Reid: Bristol Black Lives Matter statue removed |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been removed from the plinth where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood. | A sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been removed from the plinth where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood. |
The sculpture of Jen Reid was erected on Wednesday but removed by Bristol City Council just over 24 hours later. | The sculpture of Jen Reid was erected on Wednesday but removed by Bristol City Council just over 24 hours later. |
Ms Reid had been photographed standing on the empty plinth after the Colston statue was pulled down during protests. | Ms Reid had been photographed standing on the empty plinth after the Colston statue was pulled down during protests. |
Mayor Marvin Rees said it was up to the people of Bristol to decide what would replace Colston's statue. | |
Bristol City Council contractors removed the sculpture of Ms Reid and took it away in the back of a lorry by 05:30 BST on Thursday. | |
The authority tweeted to say the sculpture would be held at its museum "for the artist to collect or donate to our collection". | |
The black resin statue of Ms Reid, called A Surge of Power, was created by artist Marc Quinn and designed to be a temporary installation to continue the conversation about racism. | |
He said he was inspired to create it after seeing an image of her standing on the plinth with her fist raised during the Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June. | |
Mr Quinn then contacted Ms Reid through social media and they worked together on the statue, which was erected shortly before 04:30 on Wednesday. | Mr Quinn then contacted Ms Reid through social media and they worked together on the statue, which was erected shortly before 04:30 on Wednesday. |
Ms Reid said she had felt an "overwhelming impulse" to climb on to the plinth during last month's protest, and the sculpture "is about making a stand for my mother, for my daughter, for black people like me". | |
Speaking in a Facebook Q&A, Mr Rees said it was important to gauge people's opinions on a replacement for the Colston statue, but he felt an empty plinth was "a very powerful statement at this time". | |
He told BBC Radio 5 live that how race was navigated in the UK was a "delicate balance". | |
"Running around provoking debate without any awareness of the potential consequences of that debate is not OK," Mr Rees said. | |
"We have to approach things with wisdom, which is why we've set out a process that revolves around a history commission telling the full story of Bristol so that the city is much more informed and is in a better position to collectively decide who it wants to honour and where." | |
Mr Rees said he would "really welcome a contribution" from Mr Quinn as it had cost the authority money to remove the statue. | |
Protesters used ropes to pull the Colston statue, which had been at the city centre site since 1895, from its plinth last month. | |
It was then dragged to the harbourside, where it was thrown into the water at Pero's Bridge - named in honour of enslaved man Pero Jones who lived and died in Bristol. | |
The council later retrieved the statue, and said it would be displayed in a museum along with placards from the protest. |