A ruling on legal issues arising out of the acquittal of four people who were prosecuted for pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest – the so-called Colston Four – will be delivered by judges. Court of Appeal judges were told at a hearing in June that the toppling of the statue was an “unacceptable way to engage in political debate”.
The bronze memorial to the 17th-century slave merchant was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol on June 7 2020, before being rolled into the water. In January this year, four protesters involved in tearing down the statue were cleared by a jury at Bristol Crown Court of criminal damage.
All four had admitted involvement but denied their actions were criminal, claiming the statue itself had been a hate crime against the people of Bristol. Following the jury’s decision, then-attorney general Suella Braverman referred the case to the Court of Appeal so judges could “clarify the law for future cases” – without affecting the four’s acquittals.
