Anti-racism protesters toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston in June 2020 amid global protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
Hundreds of people lined up in the English city of Bristol on Saturday to get elusive street artist Banksy’s latest masterpiece – a T-shirt designed to help four defendants accused of demolishing a local statue of a slave trader. was created for.
Above the empty chair in the gray shirt is the word Bristol, on which stood a long-standing statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, with a rope hanging and debris scattered around.
Anti-racism protesters pull the statue down and throw it in Bristol harbor in June 2020, amid global protests over the police killing of a black American man, George Floyd.
Four people have been charged with criminal damages over the demolition of the statue and are facing trial next week.
“I made some memorable shirts on this occasion,” Banksy said on social media on Friday. “Available from tomorrow at various outlets in the city. All go to the defendant so they can go for a pint.
Banksy said the t-shirt costs £25 ($33) and is limited to one per customer.
Banksy’s identity was never confirmed, but he began his career spray-painting walls and bridges in Bristol, a port city in south-west England. Some of his works have sold for millions of dollars at auction.
Colston made a fortune transporting enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to America on ships based in Bristol. He was a major donor to Bristol, with streets and institutions named after him – some of which were renamed as the statue-falling sparked debate about racism and historical commemoration.
City officials pulled Colston’s statue out of the harbor and said it would be kept in a museum, along with placards from a Black Lives Matter display.
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