Victory!

Three men and a woman have been found not guilty of criminal damage after toppling the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol, an act of public dissent that reverberated around the world.

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, were accused, with “others unknown”, of helping to tie ropes around the statue’s neck and joining with others to pull it to the ground.

Jake Skuse, 33, was accused of helping to roll it to Bristol harbour where it was thrown into the River Avon.

In a 10-day trial at Bristol crown court, the four defendants did not contest their actions on 7 June 2020 but sought to argue they were justified, because the statue was so offensive.

Giving evidence in their own defence, each described being motivated out of sincere #antiracist conviction, frustration that previous attempts to persuade the council to remove the statue had failed, and a belief that the statue was so offensive it constituted an indecent display or a hate crime.

#antislavery #BLM #DirectAction

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/05/four-cleared-of-toppling-edward-colston-statute