RACE ROW
Nigel Farage slammed for ‘inciting racist hate’ after comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to the Taliban
NIGEL Farage sparked an explosive race row on GMB after comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to the Taliban.
The Brexit Party boss was accused of talking “nonsense” and “inciting evil racism” when debating the tearing down of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol.
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Nigel Farage accused the BLM protesters, who threw the monument in the River Avon, of being a “violent mob” and a “far-left Marxist organisation” while describing 17th century slave-trader Colston as a philanthropist.
It came after the Brexiteer compared the Black Lives Matter movement to Islamic extremists, tweeting on Sunday: “A new form of the Taliban was born in the UK today.
“Unless we get moral leadership quickly our cities won't be worth living in.”
Black Lives Matter protests were attended by tens of thousands of people across the country this weekend and while largely peaceful there were ugly clashes with police by a minority.
Monuments including the Winston Churchill statue and Cenotaph were also targeted by vandals during the rallies.
'VIOLENT MOB'
This morning host Piers Morgan grilled Mr Farage on why he thought toppling the statue of Colston was wrong.
The former MEP hit back: “They did it as a violent mob, making their own decision on what they thought was right or wrong.
“Bear it in mind Edward Colston made a lot of money out of the Royal African Company.
“He then was a big philanthropist and a lot of big public buildings are named after Edward Colston in Bristol."
He added: “The point here is you start to unpick history you do not quite know where you are going to finish up.”
They did it as a violent mob, making their own decision on what they thought was right or wrong.
Nigel Farage
This prompted women’s rights activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu to hit back that he was trying to “whitewash” the oppression of black people.
She said: “Nigel Farage embodies that is wrong with this country he exemplifies how some white people will whitewash the oppression of black people as their own so they can accuse BLM of an anti-white agenda.
“There is no justification for statues that immortalise slavery immortalise imperialism.”
In response Mr Farage claimed that Black Lives Matter wanted to close down police forces and cause chaos.
He said: “The slogan ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the wanting to end injustice and equality is a laudable aim.
“The organisation is a far-left Marxist organisation whose chief aim is to defund and close down police forces.”
Dr Mos-Shogbamimu hit back, saying: “You are full of such nonsense Nigel Farage.
“The the only thing you're an expert on right now is your backside... BLM represents a fight against racism in this country.”
The the only thing you're an expert on right now is your backside... Black Lives Matter represents a fight against racism in this country.
Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu
Historian Professor Kate Williams was similarly riled by Mr Farage’s comments.
Referencing his Taliban tweet, she fumed: “Now you are encouraging people to compare BLM to the Taliban when they are asking for justice and equality in this country.
“People say to me where is this going to stop it's madness... they put the statue in the sea where he would've thrown the people he trafficked.
“In this country we do not confront our history of slavery and the British slave trade.
She added: “You are inciting evil racism.”
Refusing to back down, Mr Farage replied: “The Taliban love to blow up and destroy historical monuments from a different time that they do not approve of.
“What we saw at the weekend was the most appalling example of mob rule.”
STATUE SET FOR A MUSEUM
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees has said he felt no "sense of loss" for the Colston statue and that the monument would probably be placed in a museum.
He said: "It's still underwater, at some point it will be fished out...we will obviously take the statue out.
"What's happened to the statue is now part of that statue's story. People in Bristol came together and said we don't want that statue in the middle of the city.
"What I would also recognise though - and it's important to do so - is that many people are dismayed by the tearing down of the statue and as a city it is our job to unite those voices too."
He added: "It is highly likely that the Colston statue will end up in one of our museums."
MOST READ IN NEWS
There are fears now that similar action could take place across the country to monuments with links to Britain's imperial past.
Historians are concerned that a statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes in Oxford could be pulled down by protesters tonight.
The Rhodes Must Fall Oxford campaign group has called for the image of the controversial mining magnate and empire builder to be removed from Oriel College, arguing the university has "failed to address its institutional racism".
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