GB News host hits out at proposals to remove more statues

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The monument, which was erected in London’s Belgrave Square in 1992, was splashed with a red cross over the inscription commemorating his life. The vandalism came after a petition was launched earlier this year to remove a statue of Colombus in Liverpool.

The petition described the explorer as a “perpetrator” of various crimes including rape, enslavement and mass genocide.

It continued: “There is no place for a statue of Christopher Columbus in Liverpool.

“He murdered and enslaved thousands of indigenous people in the places that he supposedly ‘discovered’.”

Following the Black Lives Matter movement last year, many people have asked for statues of Columbus to be removed around the world.

In America, a monument to the explorer was pulled down in the Little Italy neighbourhood in Baltimore.

In Virginia, protesters set a statue of him on fire during anti-racism demonstrations.

Since the 1970s, at least 36 monuments of the explorer have been removed across America.

However, around 149 remain in place making Columbus the third most commemorated figure in America.

Riots erupted across the US and statues of former presidents George Washington and Ulysses E Grant were vandalised in wake of the movement.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters draped an American flag over a 100-year-old statue of Washington before setting it on fire and pulling it down.

In the UK, several statues and busts were removed or vandalised during last year’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the nation.

Protestors in Bristol pulled down the controversial statue of slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the harbour.

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Several monuments commemorating Captain James Cook were targeted with activists claiming the explorer “symbolises racial oppression and violence”.

Campaigners also called for the removal or renaming of various targets including James Cook University Hospital and a Captain Cook museum in Middlesbrough.

The statue of slave trader Robert Milligan was also removed by authorities.

In wake of the protests last year, Sir Winston Churchill’s monument in Whitehall was vandalised before being encased in a protective box.

However, the likes of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned the move as well as the vandalism on the statue of Winston Churchill.

Mr Johnson said at the time: “I will not support or indulge those who break the law, or attack the police, or desecrate public monuments.

“Those who attack public property or the police – who injure the police officers who are trying to keep us all safe – those people will face the full force of the law.”

It’s not just monuments and statues which have been criticised during the movement.

Little Britain has been pulled from all streaming services due to blackface with both Matt Lucas and David Walliams apologising.

Gone with the Wind – which saw the first African American actress, Hattie McDaniel, win an Oscar – was banned by HBO.

Songs such as Swing Low, Sweet Charity is also facing the potential axe from Rugby Football Union games.

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