[CBSNEWS] The statue of a slave trader that was torn down and thrown into a river last month in Bristol, England, was replaced overnight by a sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester with a fist raised to the sky. The new statue of Jen Reid, who helped pull down the statue of 17th-century merchant Edward Colston in June and was photographed in the same pose, was secretly installed by the team of artist Marc Quinn at dawn on Wednesday.
A cardboard sign saying "Black lives still matter" was placed beneath the work, which the artist titled "A surge of power (Jen Reid) 2020."
The city of Bristol has not yet officially decided what to do with the plinth on which Colston's statue previously stood, and it was unclear Wednesday how long the new statue might remain in the spot. In a statement, Bristol's mayor, Marvin Rees, said that the installation had been put up without permission. |