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Australia police arrest 2 for defacing statue of 18th-century Western explorer

Sunday, 14 June 2020 4:25 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 14 June 2020 4:55 AM ]

Australian police officers stand guard around the statue of 18th-century British explorer Captain James Cook to disperse anti-racism protesters, in Sydney, Australia, on June 12, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Police in Australia have arrested two women for allegedly defacing the statue of 18th-century British explorer Captain James Cook in Sydney, amid worldwide anti-racism protests that have also demanded the removal of the monuments of figures with legacies related to colonialism and racism.

Police said they were alerted to the graffiti on the statue in Hyde Park early Sunday morning and arrested the two women nearby in the central district of Australia’s largest city center.

New South Wales police said the women, in their late twenties, were found with a bag containing spray-paint cans.

The statue of Cook — who was the captain of the first Western ship to reach the east coast of Australia — was promptly cleaned by Sydney council workers on Sunday morning, a police spokeswoman said.

Statues come down across US, Europe as global anti-racism protests spread

The widespread racial justice protests that began across the US on May 26, following the brutal killing of George Floyd by a white police officer are now reverberating through Europe.

Over the past two weeks, historical monuments with links to colonialism and slavery have been defaced or toppled in Europe and the US, amid protests in the wake of the killing of African-American man George Floyd at the hands US police in Minneapolis last month.

British establishment may abandon Winston Churchill statue

In a remarkable retreat the granddaughter of Winston Churchill says his statue may have to be moved to a museum to save it from the wrath of anti-racism protesters.

The protesters have also been demanding that the statues of some of the architects of Europe’s empire building be torn down.

Sculptures of former Australian prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard were also sprayed with red paint on Saturday morning. A Captain James Stirling statue, in Perth, Western Australia, was defaced on Friday.