The statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II were toppled and vandalized during Canada Day protests.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, dozens of protesters gathered on Canada Day to protest the country’s colonial history and call for the abolishment of the monarchy.
Though Canada has become a fully independent country decades ago, the British monarchy still plays a role in Canada’s political system, whereas Queen Elizabeth II is considered the head of the constitutional monarchy.
Calls for the abolition of the monarchy come after mass graves of young indigenous children were discovered earlier this month. According to the reports, the remains of more than 1,000 children, who are believed to have been killed during the colonization, were found in the country.
After attaching ropes to the statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II, the protesters were heard chanting “bring her down” and “no to genocide” while toppling and defacing the sculptures.
The crowd erupted into cheers after the massive statue of Queen Victoria hit the ground. Besides toppling the sculptures of the current monarch and her great-great-grandmother, the protesters also smeared the statues in red paint and slapped Mohawk flags onto them.
Following the protest, which didn’t appear to draw the attention of the police, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, condemned the vandalism while carefully showing support for the indigenous communities.
“We obviously condemn any defacing of statues of the Queen. Our thoughts are with Canada’s indigenous community following these tragic discoveries and we follow these issues closely and continue to engage with the government of Canada with indigenous matters,” the PM’s spokesperson said.
Condemning the protest was also Tory MP Alexander Stafford who offered to take the statues if people in Canada no longer wanted them.
“Frankly I think it is people trying to link and use the awfulness of the tragedy that has been uncovered for their own politician, republican views. I don’t think the two should be linked,” Stafford said in a statement to MailOnline.
“It’s up to Canada their debate about the Commonwealth and our current monarch, but they shouldn’t try to rewrite history and force their own political views about a constitutional matter on what was clearly a horrific issue that happened in the past.”
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