Top 10 colonial landmarks in the sights of Europe's BLM protesters


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Governments and officials are taking steps to remove remnants of European colonial history after Black Lives Matter protesters in the British city of Bristol threw the statue of slave trader Edward Colson into the river at the weekend.

On Tuesday, the statue of slave trader Robert Milligan was removed by officials from West India Quay in East London.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who backed the removal, earlier announced a review of all of London's statues and street names, saying any with links to slavery "should be taken down".

Belgium has also taken some initial steps of removing statues of slave traders, and other countries are on the brink of doing so.

Here are other statues of European colonial figures that may end up being removed in the name of Black Lives Matter:

King Leopold II, Brussels, Belgium 

The King Leopold II of Belgium statue is pictured during an anti-racism protest, in Brussels, on June 7, 2020 AFP
The King Leopold II of Belgium statue is pictured during an anti-racism protest, in Brussels, on June 7, 2020 AFP

After removing the Belgian king's statue in Antwerp, protesters are moving on to all monuments to the country’s 19th century monarch.

Leopold established his own colony in the Congo with the support of western powers and ran the Congo Free State as a personal fiefdom, committing widespread atrocities.

Cecil Rhodes, Oxford, UK

The campaign to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes in Oxford took its cues from the Rhodes Must Fall movement that protested for the removal of his statue at the University of Cape Town.

Rhodes was an arch-imperialist and white supremacist who lent his name to the southern African territory of Rhodesia, which he founded in modern day Zimbabwe.

Christopher Columbus, Barcelona, Spain

Campaigners in the Spanish City of Barcelona have lobbied for the removal of Christopher Columbus’s statue after successfully removing a monument to slave trader Antonio Lopez in 2018.

Columbus is credited with discovering the new world but the cycle of violence he began with the genocide of native American peoples continued for centuries.

Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Hoorn, the Netherlands

Since 2011, local activists have petitioned for the removal of a statue to early Dutch colonialist Jan Pieterszoon Coen in his home town of Hoorn.

Coen was the governor general of the Dutch East India Company and instrumental in establishing Dutch colonial enterprise in South-East Asia.

In the 17th century he carried out a genocide against native people in the Indonesian Banda Islands.

Winston Churchill, London, UK

Police stand around the Winston Churchill statue ahead of a rally at the Nelson Mandela statue in the square, to commemorate George Floyd, on the day of his funeral, in Parliament Square, London, Tuesday June 9, 2020 AP
Police stand around the Winston Churchill statue ahead of a rally at the Nelson Mandela statue in the square, to commemorate George Floyd, on the day of his funeral, in Parliament Square, London, Tuesday June 9, 2020 AP

Wartime prime minister Winston Churchill is considered by many Britons as the country’s greatest hero. Churchill is best known for leading the UK against Nazi Germany.

But detractors talk of his racist attitudes towards Africans and Native Americans, and blame his policies for the 1943 famine in Bengal in which three million died.

The African Quarter, Berlin, Germany

Berlin’s African Quarter is filled with street names recalling Germany’s imperial past.

Attempts by campaigners in the German capital have sought to replace the names of colonial-era leaders with the names of those who resisted them in Africa.

But they have been repeatedly blocked by local residents and businessmen.

Rodolfo Graziani, Affile, Italy

Graziani, an ardent fascist, was a pivotal figure in Italy’s annexation of Libya and Ethiopia in the 1930s.

His brutal crackdown against rebels in eastern Libya earned him the nickname the “Butcher of Fezzan”.

Graziani's mausoleum was publicly condemned when it was built in Italy in 2012 and the local official responsible eventually received a jail sentence for erecting it.

But the monument still stands.

Colonial street names, Paris, France

Like most European capitals, Paris has many streets named after imperial heroes.

Campaigners in France have listed the names of 200 places memorialising French conquests, empire builders or slave traders.

They include Thomas Robert Bugeaud, France’s first governor-general of Algeria, who demolished villages and slaughtered resistance fighters during his subjugation of the country in the 19th century.

Henry Dundas, Edinburgh, UK

The Melville Monument in Edinburgh, which is 45 metres tall, memorialises First Viscount Melville, Henry Dundas, a former British home secretary who is best known for delaying the abolition of slavery in the 18th Century.

Hundreds of campaigners have signed a petition calling for the removal of the statue, which they say glorifies slavery.

John Cass, London

A statue of Sir John Cass is seen outside the Sir John Cass Foundation building in London Getty Images
A statue of Sir John Cass is seen outside the Sir John Cass Foundation building in London Getty Images

Sir John Cass’s statue stands outside the Sir John Cass Foundation building and the British capital’s Guildhall.

As well as founding an educational charity, the 17th century member of parliament and merchant was one of the major British figures in the early development of the slave trade and the Atlantic slave economy.

Cass directly dealt with slave agents in the African forts and in the Caribbean.

The biog

Name: Timothy Husband

Nationality: New Zealand

Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney

Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier

Favourite music: Billy Joel

Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES

All times UAE ( 4 GMT)

Saturday
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur (3.30pm)
Burnley v Huddersfield Town (7pm)
Everton v Bournemouth (7pm)
Manchester City v Crystal Palace (7pm)
Southampton v Manchester United (7pm)
Stoke City v Chelsea (7pm)
Swansea City v Watford (7pm)
Leicester City v Liverpool (8.30pm)

Sunday
Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United (7pm)

Monday
Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion (11pm)

Notable groups (UAE time)

Jordan Spieth, Si Woo Kim, Henrik Stenson (12.47pm)

Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen (12.58pm)

Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood (1.09pm)

Sergio Garcia, Jason Day, Zach Johnson (4.04pm)

Rickie Fowler, Paul Casey, Adam Scott (4.26pm)

Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy (5.48pm)

ALRAWABI%20SCHOOL%20FOR%20GIRLS
%3Cp%3ECreator%3A%20Tima%20Shomali%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0Tara%20Abboud%2C%C2%A0Kira%20Yaghnam%2C%20Tara%20Atalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

What is type-1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.

It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.

Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.

Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Which honey takes your fancy?

Al Ghaf Honey

The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year

Sidr Honey

The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest

Samar Honey

The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments

While you're here
Company profile

Company name: Dharma

Date started: 2018

Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: TravelTech

Funding stage: Pre-series A 

Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs

Company profile

Company name: Suraasa

Started: 2018

Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker

Based: India, UAE and the UK

Industry: EdTech

Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding

Museum of the Future in numbers
  •  78 metres is the height of the museum
  •  30,000 square metres is its total area
  •  17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
  •  14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
  •  1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior 
  •  7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
  •  2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
  •  100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
  •  Dh145 is the price of a ticket
The specs

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Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm

Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto

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On sale: now