Canadian protesters topple a statue of the current and former Queen of England.
Canadians pulled down the statues of two British queens on Canadian National Day to protest the discovery of mass graves of Indigenous children.
Statues of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria were torn down in the Canadian city of Winnipeg by protesters furious over the recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of indigenous children.
Demonstrators also brought down a statue of the 18th century Royal Navy captain James Cook during protests on Canada Day, a national holiday to mark the country’s confederation.
The protests came amid growing outrage after at least 750 unmarked graves were found at Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan and another 215 were found buried in Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.
At least 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families to attend government-funded, church-run boarding schools as part of a campaign by the government to forcefully assimilate indigenous children into Canadian society.
A spokesman for Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, said he “condemned any defacing of statues of the Queen”.
A No 10 spokesman added: “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.”
Protesters cheered as the statue was brought down in Manitoba’s capital, amid cries of “No pride in genocide” and “Bring her down!”
Some stood on the statue’s empty plinth waving flags, while others covered the base in red handprints.
