Thread by @Telegraph

🚨Activists who tore down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into a harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest have been cleared of criminal damage

Thread 🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/0…

❌The memorial to the 17th century merchant was toppled during a march in June 2020, before being dragged and rolled 500m and dumped in the water in Bristol

➡️It became a defining moment of the wave of protests seen around the world in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the US, and was even mentioned at Mr Floyd's funeral

Although hundreds of people were present, just four - Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, Jake Skuse, 33, and Sage Willoughby, 22 - were charged with criminal damage

🔴Graham, Ponsford and Willoughby were accused of bringing ropes and orchestrating the toppling of the statue.

Skuse allegedly goaded the crowd into throwing it in the water

🗣️The prosecution said it was "irrelevant" who Colston was, and the case was one of straightforward criminal damage.

The defence said his legacy as a slaver was vital to deciding the defendants' culpability

💬Barrister Tom Wainwright, for Ponsford, said the felling of the statue had helped heal the wounds of slavery...

...and accused the prosecution of inviting the jury to "pick open these wounds once more"

Liam Walker, for Willoughby, told the jury their decision would "reverberate around the world" and urged them "to be on the right side of history".

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telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/0…