Protesters in Oxford demand removal of statue of Cecil Rhodes

London [UK], June 10 (ANI): Hundreds of protesters in Oxford rallied outside the university's Oriel College on Tuesday (local time) to demand the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, reported CNN.
The long-running campaign to remove the statue has been reinvigorated after the recent Black Lives Matter protests across the world following the death of George Floyd, the report said.
This comes a day after anti-racism protesters in the UK pulled down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol on Monday.
The death of George Floyd on May 25 in the US has sparked a worldwide movement against police brutality, racism and social injustice, as a video showing a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's neck after the latter had been arrested, was widely circulated online on the next day.
CNN reported that members of the Oxford crowd on Tuesday took a knee, put their fists in the air and kept silent for 8 minutes and 46 seconds the amount of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd's neck.
According to CNN report, Cecil Rhodes was one of the leading figures in British imperialism at the end of the 19th Century, pushing the empire to seize control over vast areas of southern Africa, first as a businessman and later as prime minister of Cape Colony in what is now South Africa.
Meanwhile, nearly, two weeks after his death in Police Custody, Family and friends honoured George Floyd at a private funeral in the US city of Houston. Floyd's casket was rolled into the church by six men wearing black suits and masks. (ANI)