A statue of King Leopold II of Belgium was taken down in Antwerp today after it was vandalised by protesters because of his brutal colonial rule in the Congo. Leopold owned the Belgian Congo as his personal property from to and subjected its people to forced labour while he exploited the country's rubber reserves - leading to millions of deaths in what some regard as a genocide.
The Antwerp statue is the latest symbol of racism to be targeted amid global Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in the United States. The mayor's office said the statue was taken down to be 'restored' after it was daubed with paint, but said it was unlikely to return to its public pedestal. Removed: A statue of Belgium's King Leopold II - responsible for colonial atrocities in the Congo from to - lies on its side as it is taken away in Antwerp today.
The Leopold statue is seen standing in Antwerp last week after it was vandalised by demonstrators during the anti-racism protests which have spread across the world.
Workmen can be seen loading the statue on to pallets to remove it for possible restoration in Antwerp, Belgium today. Several Leopold statues have been defaced around Belgium in recent days as the global anti-racism movement sweeps Europe. A spokesman for Antwerp mayor Bart de Wever said the city's statue was 'seriously vandalised last week' and 'needs to be restored' by a sculpture museum.
It will probably become part of the museum collection,' he said. A spokeswoman for the Middelheim Museum confirmed they had received the statue and said they would restore it before deciding what to do with it. There are separate calls to take down Leopold monuments in Brussels, where one of his busts was covered in red paint last week. Leopold is honoured with several monuments after ruling Belgium from to , the longest reign in the kingdom's history. But his exploitation of the Congo Free State is seen as brutal even by the standards of the time, with millions thought to have died under Leopold's personal rule.
