The online petitions, one of which was started by a 14-year-old boy on photo-sharing app Instagram, demand the removal of the monuments across Brussels and a bust in the city of Halle.
His petition in French and Dutch on change.org calls for the removal by end-June, saying Leopold II has no place in multicultural Brussels, which bills itself as the capital of Europe.
Well done RTE, some news finally
Leopold II may have presided over 10 million deaths of Africans worked to death and mutilated on his rubber plantations. He destroyed archives before the Congo was handed over to the Belgian state.
As long as they don't destroy them. Statues should be preserved as pieces of the past.
Decimated is putiing it VERY VERY lightly, what he instituted came close to hell on earth, evil f**ker.
A lot of the time, history needs to be sanitised. Can you imagine the outrage here if a statue of Oliver Cromwell was on display in the middle of O'Connell street? You can be sure it would have more than a surgical mask or a lick of paint on it.
I think instead of removing the statue, they should have a plaque describing his true story.
This is a slippery slope in terms of who decides who's bad and who's good? Obviously in this instance it is very apparent. I'm sure there's statues of the last 4/5 US presidents in places. They murdered innocents. Where do you draw the line? Many class Lenin as evil many don't?
I would leave the statue but add a plaque that states Guilty of mass genocide.
Not a good idea, hold on to your history so you don't forget the mistakes of the past
He was a proper bastard this guy
I’m shocked as I didn’t realise he had statues in his honour. That would akin to statues of Hitler in Germany ... please someone don’t set me straight and tell me there is.
He committed genocide on the people of Congo for his own gain.
KMurphyIndep A rope and a sledgehammer are far more effective than a petition.
If they really want to right a wrong they should give back to the Congo everything that they took. The Congo compensated finacially. In todays value.Tearing down a statue is tokenism. You really can not judge history retrospectively.
Shouldn’t be torn down. History is history good and bad. We shouldn’t sanitise it for our children.
Brought to light by Roger Casement
KMurphyIndep would recommend anybody to read King Leoplds Ghost...a harrowing read.
Now there’s a man whose crimes have never been properly addressed! A great manipulator and a rapacious monster.
Crybabies
Just do a Nelson's pillar on them, simple 😉🤣
Proper order,the man was a savage meglomaniac who should be erased from public conciousness.
He was a right bastard
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