During a Kill The Bill protest in Bristol, UK, on Saturday January 15th, the plinth formerly occupied by an Edward Colston statue, was vandalised by passing protestors.

The protest was one of several around the country against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which opponents say will sharply curtail the right to protest, in addition to new surveillance and stop-and-search powers.

Messages on the plinth included ‘Bristol: 1, Home Office: 0’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ were scrawled onto the statue with chalk. Another man was seen posting a BLM poster onto the plinth.

Protesters were also climbing onto the plinth with one dancing and holding a sign reading ‘DEFEND OUR FREEDOM’.

Edward Colston was involved in the slave trade in the seventeenth century.

His statue was torn down during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Four people accused of involvement in that were recently accquitted of criminal damage.

During a Kill The Bill protest in Bristol, UK, on Saturday January 15th, the plinth formerly occupied by an Edward Colston statue, was vandalised by passing protestors.

Messages including ‘Bristol: 1, Home Office: 0’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ were scrawled onto the statue with chalk. Another man was seen posting a BLM poster onto the plinth.

Protesters were also climbing onto the plinth with one dancing and holding a sign reading ‘DEFEND OUR FREEDOM’.