The statue of 18th Century slave trader Robert Milligan has been pulled down from outside the Museum of London Docklands after campaigners vowed to protest every day until it was removed.

Earlier today the monument’s owner, Canal and River Trust, said it recognised the wishes of the local community and would work with local authorities to organise the ‘safe removal’ of the statue as soon as possible.

On Monday protesters covered the statue in Black Lives Matter signs and placed fabric over its head, while more than 3,000 people had signed a petition for its removal.

This evening workmen were filmed on the east London site winching the statue off its plinth while activists and passersby cheered and clapped.

The Museum of London Docklands said the statue of Milligan, who owned two sugar plantations and 526 slaves in Jamaica, had ‘stood uncomfortably’ outside its premises ‘for a long time’.

‘The Museum of London recognises that the monument is part of the ongoing problematic regime of white-washing history, which disregards the pain of those who are still wrestling with the remnants of the crimes Milligan committed against humanity’ they added.

Tower Hamlets Council said on Twitter that they will be reviewing all monuments and other sites in the borough ‘to understand how we should represent the more troubling periods in our history’.

Labour in local government (LGA) said all labour councils will do the same.

In 2016, Oriel College decided to keep the statue despite widespread student demands to remove it, with campaigners saying the row illustrated Britain’s ‘imperial blind spot’.

The Rhodes Must Fall Oxford campaign group argues the university has ‘failed to address its institutional racism’ and the impact on students and the city. Campaigners have said Rhodes, a 19th Century businessman and politician, represented white supremacy and is steeped in colonialism and racism.

An Oriel College spokesman said it ‘abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms’.

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