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Dutch Anti-Racism Activists Deface Statues, Art Center in Rotterdam - Reports

© AFP 2023 / ROBIN UTRECHTThe statue of Dutch lieutenant admiral and commander of the West India Company Piet Hein in Rotterdam-Delfshaven is daubed and smeared with red paint (unseen)on June 12, 2020. - Dutch protesters on June 12, 2020, damaged the statues of a colonialist naval commander linked to the slave trade and of a murdered far-right politician, in the latest incidents targeting statues in Europe and the United States. The statue of Piet Hein -- a 17th-century admiral linked to the Dutch West India Trading Company who is regarded as one of the Netherlands' greatest naval heroes -- was sprayed with the words "killer" and "thief" overnight in Rotterdam.
The statue of Dutch lieutenant admiral and commander of the West India Company Piet Hein in Rotterdam-Delfshaven is daubed and smeared with red paint (unseen)on June 12, 2020. - Dutch protesters on June 12, 2020, damaged the statues of a colonialist naval commander linked to the slave trade and of a murdered far-right politician, in the latest incidents targeting statues in Europe and the United States. The statue of Piet Hein -- a 17th-century admiral linked to the Dutch West India Trading Company who is regarded as one of the Netherlands' greatest naval heroes -- was sprayed with the words killer and thief overnight in Rotterdam.  - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A group of activists has vandalized two statues and an art centre in the Dutch city of Rotterdam calling for an end to the glorification of Dutch colonialism, NL Times reported on Friday.
"We demand rejection of these unjust 'heroes' and we criticize the collective memory of Dutch history, because murderers, exploiters and fascist politicians are not worthy of a monument!" the group wrote on its newly started Instagram account, as quoted by the outlet.

The group calls itself "Heroes of Never" and sprayed graffiti on a statue of a Dutch colonial admiral and an assassinated 20th-century far-right politician as well as an art centre named after a Dutch naval officer, NL Times reported.

The wave of defacing statues of controversial historical figures began in the UK town of Bristol where protesters took down a bronze statue of a former slave trader and dumped it into a river. Statues to confederate generals in the US, slave traders and even revered UK leader Winston Churchill have been destroyed, damaged or vandalized.

The killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May sparked a wave of protests against police brutality and institutionalized racism which spread to all 50 states and numerous countries worldwide.

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