The Court of Appeal has ruled that the toppling of Bristol’s Edward Colston statue in 2020 was a violent act, and not protected by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). This afternoon appeal judges declared ECHR protections don’t apply where significant damage is inflicted. The case had been brought to appeal by then-Attorney General Suella Braverman, after the Colston Four – the group who pulled down the statue  –  were acquitted of criminal damage after citing their right to protest according to the ECHR. Turns out it wasn’t so peaceful after all…

While this won’t affect the Colston Four verdict, it will have a meaningful impact on cases in the future. Vandals won’t have a human right to pull down statues and trash public spaces going forward. Inevitably this has upset the leftie lawyers, who are throwing their toys out of the pram and attacking Suella already.  

Raj Chada, Partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, says:

“We are disappointed by the Court of Appeal Judgment. In our view, the evidence at the trial was that the toppling was not done violently. The clear view from an expert valuer, which we were prevented from relying upon during the trial, was that the value of the statue had increased exponentially after the toppling. The statue is still on public display as a monument to the evils of the slave trade, not as an obscene glorification of a slave trader. It is a shame that this is the Attorney General’s focus rather than the multiple crises facing this country.”

A reminder that even Sir Keir said it was “completely wrong” to pull that statue down…