Successful public protest

Hambleton, Robin

Abstract

In June 2020 the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, a prolific Bristol slave trader, attracted international headlines. This short article follows up on this remarkable event and discusses the trial, in January 2022, of the four anti-racism campaigners, who tore down the statue. In a landmark judgement, the jury found the defendants not guilty of criminal damage. The jurors concluded that the real crime was that the statue was still there when the protesters pulled it down. The article discusses the importance of public, or civic, space in cities and considers the implications of the jury trial for public protest.

• Digital Artefact Type: Website Content
• Acceptance Date: May 2, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 16, 2022
• Publication Date: May 16, 2022
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 9, 2022
• Keywords: public protest; anti-racism; statues
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9850281
• Additional Information: The link to the online article is here:; https://eura.org/conversation-44/
• External URL: https://eura.org/conversation-44/